Orochimaru's Return
by Boriqua-chan
Summary: Something didn't feel right. He couldn't hear anything amiss within his home and that made it worse; he couldn't hear anything from Kaede's room. Sakura got a glimpse of Sasuke's expression. She'd never seen him so panicked.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a story written by both KillerMay and I. This first chapter is mine.**

**:: ****Author: Boriqua-chan**** ::**

Glancing around the room, Kaede hurried to get out of the house. She shivered lightly at the thought of what would happen if she didn't. Her parents would start singing along to some type of old music—what did they call it, jazz—and they would start handing each other spices to make lunch for that day and just...

Kaede suppressed another shiver and gripped the doorknob tightly, hoping desperately not to be caught. She was always caught, but sometimes they let her slide away. She really hoped this was one of those times. It was rare that she wasn't, but still. She turned the knob, breathing a sigh of relief as she was let go. The sun was warm on her shoulders; they weren't covered by much, unless you counted a thin spaghetti strap that held her shirt on her body. Out her door awaited Hyūga Toyo and his little cousin. Kaede smiled at her boyfriend and walked as silently as she could to his side.

Toyo had beautiful long chocolate brown hair that was held in a ponytail by a white ribbon at his shoulders. Clear brown eyes that could turn lavender at a moment's notice stared at her. He wore a light kaki-colored shirt and dark blue shorts. A kunai pouch was attached to his arm. He gave Kaede a small, loose smile and rested his arm possessively on her waist. His other arm was holding Natsuko shoulders protectively.

Natsuko had bright blonde hair—it was so bright it was literally yellow. The lavender eyes of the Byakugan were framed by a cheeky face. She smiled happily at her cousin's girlfriend a giggled cutely when Toyo rested his arm on Kaede's waist.

"How's the baby, Kaede-chan?" Natsuko asked loudly, a lot like her father when he was younger. Her mother, Hinata, and Toyo's father, Neji, were cousins. It was really hard to say that Toyo was "the son of her mother's cousin" whenever someone asked them whether or not they were related, so they just said they were cousins.

Kaede smiled at the ten-year-old as she thought of her newest little brother. She had four so far. And counting. Seriously, her parents had to be the busiest people in the world. The thought made her suppress a shiver. So far, she had, and this was by age: Akira, who was twelve and already thought like a dirty old man, Jiro, who was six and was the sweetest thing in the world, Ai, who was five and Natsuko's best friend in the world, and two-month old Sakurako, who was named after their mother and was very small. Kaede was sure that the second Sakurako didn't need someone to keep her happy, her parents—Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Sakura—would set to making another one in seconds.

Smiling absently at the feeling of Toyo's warm arm, Kaede said, "Oh she's fine. Mom just says she needs more milk."

Her mother was a medical ninja. Her father...you know, come to think of it, Kaede didn't really know what her father did. All she knew was that he looked buff and beautiful. She didn't even know how her parents met, truthfully. All she knew was that, well, they looked good together and that they loved each other. Sure, they had their fights, but nothing horrible. Kaede wasn't even sure who was stronger—her mother or her father? Her father sure looked like he could kick some ass, but her mother was the ninja in the family. So...toss-up?

"Last time I saw her, she looked sickly," Toyo said, worry creeping into his usually emotionless voice.

Kaede smirked—it was a smirk just like her father's, only with a mischievous glint—and laughed lightly. "Toyo-kun, the last time you saw her was last month," she reminded him. "And then you left the house—very composed—before telling me the next day that my parents scared you."

Toyo huffed as Natsuko laughed. "They're creepy. I mean, your father was—" He stopped himself before he told her about what her father was before he was her father; he remembered, very clearly, when Sasuke had threatened him. The Uchiha's exact words were, and he quoted, _Tell any one of my children that I was a nukenin, and I promise you that you will not survive the next day_, with the his Mangekyō Sharingan spinning. "Your father looks like he could very easily beat anyone he pleases to an inch within their lives and your mother...no offense, Kaede-chan, but your mother has a short temper."

"Oh, trust me," the oldest of Uchiha Sasuke's children laughed, "I know."

"Hey, Kaede-chan, where's Akira-kun and Jiro-kun and Ai-chan?" Natsuko wondered aloud.

"Akira's over at Cousin Kuku-kun's house," Kaede answered absently, walking to their training grounds. Her cousin Fugaku was half-Puerto Rican, the son of some uncle that died long before she was born. His name was Itachi...at least, that's what she thought. Her aunt was named Luisanna and she had an uncle that was around Fugaku's age. Her family was really crazy. "And Jiro and Ai are sleeping over at Shio and Izumi's."

Her siblings really did have some weird friends. Shio and Izumi were both children of the legendary Nara Shikamaru and Nara Ino; Shio couldn't get off his ass if the world depended on it. They were good kids, yeah, but... Shio was twelve and Izumi was a newborn—Ai was helping take care of her while Shikamaru-san was on a mission, the sweetheart.

"Ooh," Natsuko hummed. Then she moved away from her cousin as she skipped to Grandpa Kakashi. Her thin little arms hugged the older man's waist. "Ojī-san!"

The silver-haired man growled playfully, eyes glued to that little orange book in his hands. "How many times have I told you not to call me that, midget?"

"Ojī-san, Ojī-san, Ojī-san, Ojī-san!" Natsuko sang.


	2. Chapter 2

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Kakashi rolled his one visible eye and then smiled—which was hard to see behind the mask, but was still visible. Kaede smiled slightly at the sight. Despite popular belief, Kakashi was actually really good with kids.

She remembered hearing stories from her mother about how he would her and the rest of her team in their genin days. Some of them were funny; others might of well have been horror stories. One of her favorites was when she was told about the bell test he gave them. Her mother had said that he had dragged one of her teammates into the ground, leaving only his head above ground. When Sakura had found him later, she thought he had been decapitated.

Kakashi could be harsh, but he was mostly a lazy pervert. He picked up Natsuko, which he knew she hated and then looked over at the other two.

He nodded at them and addressed them, "Toyo, Kaede." Kakashi was never one to bother with suffixes, he thought it made names too long and that it made him a wimp.

That did make him come off as rude occasionally, but he didn't care; his reason being that he was Kakashi Hatake and he could do whatever he pleased.

"So where are you off to today?" he asked, shifting his eye between the two of them.

Kaede shrugged. "Somewhere. Okā-san and Otō-san are being creepy again."

"Ah, I remember Sasuke when he was younger...," Kakashi said nostalgically, purposely avoiding the word 'genin'. "Such an emo..." He shook his head sadly, which gave Natsuko an opportunity to grab his hair and yank it.

"Ojī-san, put me down!" she whined. Kakashi's eye twitched slightly at the violent tug at his gorgeous mane of hair, but set her down nonetheless.

Opening up his book, he began to talk again, "Well, I have to be off. I have a meeting that started half an hour ago." With that he waved and began walking away.

Kaede and Toyo rolled their eyes in sync.

After a brief moment of silence, they began walking again. Natsuko was talking loudly all about how she saw mommy and daddy wrestling last night. Toyo was twitching slightly—mostly from the disturbing image that was forming in his mind. Kaede was only half paying attention as she walked through Konoha, twirling at her black hair. It was long—much longer than she wanted it to be, but her father (who was brutally honest) had said it looked better longer and to not cut it.

When she started paying attention again, Natsuko had stopped them in the road. "And Otō-san was going like this!" and then she started humping the air. Toyo was sputtering out nonsense, not really knowing what to say. Kaede was trying to hold back a smile.

"Um, Natsuko-chan?" she said, getting the girl's attention. "I don't really think your parents would want you to tell everyone what they do in their bed, okay?"

"But this was on the kitchen table."

Toyo coughed and stuttered out words with an uncharacteristic blush on his face. "O-Okay, Natsuko? You sh-should probably stop talking a-about O-Otō and Okā for today..." He tuned out Natsuko's complaining about "freedom of speech" and muttered, "I am never eating at your house again..."

Kaede was grinning now. She tuned out the rest of the conversation as they began walking again. At some point, she abruptly stopped though. "Hey guys... Where _are_ we going?"

Toyo shrugged. "We could go to a café?" he suggested.

"No! Let's go get some ramen!" Natsuko exclaimed, grinning. The young girl was so much like her father.

Toyo scoffed. "You can't be seri—"

"Ramen sounds nice," Kaede said, cutting him off. Not that anyone was really listening to him anyways...

"—Ramen it is. Ichiraku, I presume?" Natsuko nodded happily.

Luckily, there was a new location for the ramen stand right around the area they were in. The original one was on the other side of town.

Sitting down at the bar, the three ordered quickly and then made conversation—this time it wasn't about what Naruto and Hinata enjoyed doing in their kitchen when their kids were home.

On the other side of the room, there were two rather burly men sitting down at a table, watching them.

"Is that her?" the one facing away asked in a deep voice. He had an eye patch and a large scar that you could see above and below it. His head was shaved but he had a bit of stubble on his chin. His one visible eye was bloodshot, but you could still see the vibrant green of his iris.

The other man, who had a less threatening appearance than the other with long brown hair and normal blue eyes, consulted the picture in his hand and then looked back over at the others. "Certainly looks like it."

"When will we get her?" the other asked, narrowing his eyes. Though he was more a lackey than anything, he still wanted the other man to know that he could snap him in half if necessary.

The other man smirked at his partner, knowing he could easily take him out if he decided to betray him. "When the time is right, Akihiro. Do be patient, would you?"

Akihiro laughed, bitterly. "That's rather hard to do when I have to work with an asshole like you, Hideo."

Hideo smiled and looked over at the three again. "It'll be to are advantage if we do it when she's alone." The other man grunted in agreement. He could only hope that she would be alone soon. It would make his job quite a bit easier.


	3. Chapter 3

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

However, unbeknownst to the two men, Kaede wasn't going to be alone for a long while. The girl in question curled a stand of her navy-black hair; her onyx eyes were closed as she tilted her head back in laughter. She smiled flirtatiously at the waiter, Daisuke, and leaned backwards into Toyo's arm. "You're so funny," she giggled playfully as she made herself comfortable on the Toyo's muscle bicep.

Toyo rolled his brown eyes as he adjusted his arm so his girlfriend would be comfortable. "You really should stop teasing them," he murmured, a faint smile on his beautifully tanned face. "It's leading them on; there's a line behind me already."

Kaede laughed, fluttering her long eyelashes beautifully. Those things were a gift from her mother's genetics—thank god Uchiha Sakura was her mother. "And that line can keep waiting," she giggled, "because we're going to get married when we grow up."

Toyo gave a small, almost invisible smirk. He wasn't good at showing emotion, but he certainly agreed. He pulled the Uchiha girl closer to his side as she stuffed her mouth with an anko dumpling—the ramen shop sold a verity of dumplings now, as compared to when their parents were kids.

Natsuko giggled through her mouthful of ramen noodles. "Toyo and Kaede sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" she sang, snapping her empty chopsticks together before digging into her bowlful again.

Kaede laughed, seeming unfazed, much to the little blonde's disappointment. "Sounds good to me," she said, looking up at Toyo. "Wanna go find a tree?"

The Hyūga boy chewed his noodles, smiling after swallowing. "Only if we find a baby carriage first," he teased, and then took another chopstick-ful of vegetable ramen.

"What're we gonna name her then?" Kaede giggled as she, too, took another mouthful. "Ayumi?"

"Her? Him." Toyo grinned.

Natsuko frowned, noodles dripping from her tiny pink mouth. "Guys!" she whined, pulling the rest of the hanging ramen into her mouth and chewing. "I didn't mean it literally! Stop it!" The little blonde Uzumaki gagged, disgusted. Her stomach was in no mood to watch her cousin and his girlfriend discuss children and the future and—oh ew, they looked ready to make out. Oh _ew_.

The couple laughed—Kaede loudly and Toyo lowly—and pulled away from each other; Kaede snapped her chopsticks together and lifted herself to kiss her boyfriend's forehead. Natsuko shivered, but thanked god that she only had to stomach that.

"This is worse than watching Aunt Sakura-san and Uncle Sasuke-san make rice balls," the blonde announced. "Speaking of Auntie and Uncle…"

Kaede chocked on her noodles, coughing like an idiot caught by surprise—which, once she thought about it, was exactly what she was. When she spit up the noodles that had been stuffed in her throat, Kaede said surely, "We are _not_ going back there for another two hours, got it, midget?"

Natsuko frowned. "But I haven't seen Auntie in so long…and I wanna meet Sakurako," she complained.

Kaede's dark black eyes were still wide from shock. She remembered when she was with her genin team—which included Toyo and this green-haired little freak who'd moved away to a village whose name she didn't remember—came home early once. She'd witnessed the making of Jiro. She sure didn't want that. From what she remembered—and _damn_, did she try to repress this—Hinata and Naruto could be nothing compared to her parents. She didn't want the poor blonde to witness something as life-scarring as that. "I don't care," Kaede said emotionlessly, "we're staying until after three."

With that, she leaned into her boyfriend's strong arm and dug into her food.**  
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	4. Chapter 4

**:: Author: KillerMay::**

Natsuko crossed her arms and pouted. Then a thought popped into her head. "I'll scream," she said, trying—and failing—to fight back a grin.

Toyo's eyes widened. He knew for a fact that she would do it. He'd gone to dinner with his aunt and uncle one time. She wanted to go get ramen but they were going to barbecue instead... He went temporarily deaf that day. It wasn't fun.

He turned to his girlfriend, slightly afraid. His cousin was crossing her arms and smirking. "Are you sure we can't go right now?" he asked, looking at all the other customers, quietly enjoy their food.

"I've been scarred by going home early once," she hissed back. "I'd rather that didn't happen again."

Natsuko took in a deep breath. Toyo glanced at the clock, estimating how much time they had before she let loose. "Look, we at least need to—" The ten-year-old's loud, high-pitched screaming cut him off. Kaede plugged in her ears, as did most of the other customers.

"Natsu—" Toyo tried to say. It was hard to hear anything but the young girl's screams though.

"Stop screaming!" Kaede pleaded. The girl continued anyways.

"She's not going to stop until you agree to take her to your house!" Toyo yelled.

Kaede groaned. "Fine! We'll go back to my place!" Natsuko stopped immediately and smiled.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Kaede mumbled death threats as Toyo threw cash down to pay for their meal.

They all stood up and began walking in the direction of the Uchiha house. Kaede was horribly worried that she was going to be mind-raped as soon as she stepped foot in the house. As far as she knew though, all of her other siblings were home and with a new baby... Maybe... Just maybe it would be safe.

When they got to the house, she put her ear to the door, seeing if she could hear any... _questionable_ noises. When she didn't, she took a sigh of relief and opened the door.

"I'm home!" she called. Her mother's head popped out from the living room.

"Oh, I didn't realize you had left... When did you leave exactly?"

"She left at 11:42," Sasuke answered. He was lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Kaede realized she had probably interrupted something, but she didn't want to think about for too long. "You missed lunch," he said blandly

"I went to Ichiraku with Toyo"—Sasuke's eyes narrowed—"and Natsuko." She stepped aside, motioning towards the two Hyūga descendants.

Sasuke grunted in reply, sitting up straight.

"Where's the baby?" Natsuko asked loudly. Sasuke repressed a twitch. She was so, so much like her father...

"Oh! I'll go get her," Sakura said, walking up the stairs. Natsuko took a spot on the couch next to Sasuke as she waited. She was kicking her legs back and forth and staring up at him.

"You're old," she said. Sasuke visibly twitched that time. He was _not_ old. Who did this kid think she was? (Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice answered, _'The daughter of your best friend. She knows you won't do anything to her. I think you're getting soft.'_)

"What exactly do you consider old, Natsuko-chan?" Kaede asked, tilting her head.

"Anyone who's THIS"—she stretched her arms out as far as she could, which wasn't all that far but it still got the point across—"big!"

Kaede giggled. "I think she's calling you fat," she said to her dad. He glared at the little girl and scoffed. He wasn't old and he wasn't fat.

Seconds later, Sakura came back down with a sleeping baby in her arms. The two month old had short black hair and when her eyes were actually open, they held the vivid green color of her mother's eyes.

Natsuko smiled as Sakura sat down next to her, holding Sakurako so she could see her. "It's a baby!" she exclaimed in a whisper.


	5. Chapter 5

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Toyo rolled his brown eyes, trying desperately not to land them on the muscular Uchiha Sasuke. He snorted lowly, sliding half a foot away from his girlfriend as her father glared death at him and Natsuko, somehow, at the same time. Kaede still locked her fingers with his, uncaring of her father's glare. "Tch," the Hyūga descendent muttered, both scared and annoyed by two different people, "'course it's a baby, Natsuko-chan."

Natsuko stuck her little pink tongue out. "Auntie Sakura-san!" she cried out, oh so very loudly. Sakura stiffened for a second, watching carefully as her newest baby girl twisted and turned, then readjusted herself and fell back into the peaceful sleep. "Oh, Auntie-san, can Natsuko-chan hold Sakurako-chan?" This little girl knew how to pull her aunt's heartstrings. Talking about herself in the childish third-person usually broke the pink-haired woman.

Not this time. Mild alarm colored Sakura's bright green eyes and she very sternly said, "No."

"But Auntie-san! You let Kaede-chan and Toyo-kun! Why not Natsuko-chan?" she shinned loudly. Sakura thanked her lucky stars that Sakurako was a deep sleeper; the newborn twisted a bit, lifted her little thumb to her mouth, and sat still once more. "Natsuko-chan wants to hold the baby!"

This time, Sasuke answered. A dark glare was sent Natsuko's way and he belittled himself for knowing that he wouldn't do anything to the girl—he'd gone too damned soft. However, he knew that if she ever dropped his daughter, he'd kick her out without a hint of regret. "Natsuko-chan," he made fun of her—and no, he was not above teasing small children, "cannot hold my baby. Natsuko-chan will hurt my daughter."

The little Uzumaki looked crestfallen. "But Uncle-san!" she whined. Then, seeing as the two parents wouldn't give, her face turned serious. "I'll scream!" Natsuko threatened again. She took in a sharp breath and puffed her cheeks, waiting for her parents' friends to give in.

Sakura sighed, knowing full well that, being Naruto's daughter, she would. Using the deft she'd learned as a genin, Sakura adjusted her newborn in her arms so that the girl's ears were covered between the rosette's shoulder and arm. This meant her own ears were unprotected. Sasuke, on the other hand, glared at the little girl, daring her to go on with the threat.

The blonde let the air go from her puffed cheeks. Her "uncle's" glare scared her. "Why can't I hold the baby?" she whined again, slumping down into the sofa. She made herself comfortable on Sasuke's muscular legs. The eldest Uchiha hadn't bothered to move for her. "I want to," she said, as if that were enough.

Sakura relaxed herself and sat on the couch, making herself comfortable on what little of the middle sofa-cushion was left. For her, Sasuke did adjust himself, effortlessly pulling the thin medical ninja onto his stomach. Sakura tried not to jump—she still felt the tiny shock of lightning whenever her husband touched her—and smiled as she leaned against the sofa back and smiled lovingly at the beautiful man she was blessed to spend the rest of her life with.

"Okay, um, ew," Kaede said, pretending to swallow back bile. "Can we ease get back to why Natsuko-chan can't hold Sakurako? Because I really like that conversation better than watching my thirty-something year-old parents make out with their eyes."

Sakura laughed. "How do you think we feel, Kaede? We get to watch our child make goo-goo eyes at my friend's son."

Kaede huffed. Sasuke rolled his onyx eyes at his daughter. Then he moved his hand from the back of his head to rest on his wife's knee as he smirked. Sakura blushed, suppressing a shiver, and moved the wavy locks of her youngest daughter's sweating forehead; Sakurako was a sweaty sleeper.

"Auntie-san!" Natsuko whined, reminding them again of her previous question.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as Sakura answered, "She's too small, Natsuko-chan. She'll get scared."

Natsuko didn't look pleased with this answer. "I promise not to scare her," she begged. She was about to open her mouth again but a green-eyed glare—and Sakura didn't glare much at little children—shut her up. She grumbled a "Fine," and crossed her arms over her chest. "Kaede-chan, Mommy wants to know if your mommy and daddy are coming over tomorrow; she wants to know what to cook," Natsuko mumbled.

Sasuke snorted. Here came the silent treatment. He watched his daughter—the girl's hands were still knotted to her…_boyfriend_'s—and wondered where the hell Natsuko could ever have learned _that_. "Yes, we're coming," he answered, letting an annoyed, "Hn…" escape him shortly thereafter.

Natsuko watched her cousin's girlfriend. "Kaede-chan, did you hear something?"

The teenage couple rolled their eyes in synchronization. "Yes, Natsuko-chan. Dad said they'd be over." Which also meant they—as in she and Toyo, because there was no way in hell she watch all her siblings by herself—were stuck babysitting. Why weren't her parents hermit crabs like normal adults?

Natsuko smiled, appeased. "Toyo-kun!" she called, running from the uncomfortable muscle—which Sakura thought was very comforting, but that was probably an in-love thing—of her Uncle Sasuke's legs and to Toyo's lap. She jumped up and down like a toddler on Santa's lap. "Take me home, piggyback style! Oh, and Mommy invited Uncle Neji-san and Aunt TenTen-san and you to eat!"

Toyo gagged. "I'll be sure to pass that on…" he muttered, lifting the girl to his shoulders. The little girl smiled, wrapping her thin legs around his neck and using his brown hair as reigns. Toyo smiled at his girlfriend and stood up with the kid on his neck. Kaede sat straighter, craning her neck for the kiss to come. They kept it to a minimum of a quick peck for respect of the adults. Natsuko gagged lightly as Toyo walked out the front door, waving goodbye.


	6. Chapter 6

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Sasuke twitched and glared at the retreating figure. Sakura rolled her eyes and reluctantly sat up from her position. "I'm going to take Sakurako upstairs," she said quietly, smiling at the young girl in her arms.

"'Kay," Kaede replied. Sasuke simply gave her a nod. She walked up the stairs slowly as to not wake up the sleeping girl in her arms.

Thus left Kaede and Sasuke.

The atmosphere between them was always rather awkward when they were alone. Her dad wasn't much of a talker and, while she was perfectly comfortable with talking, she preferred to have a conversation with someone who would reply. So, they always sat in silence. Sometimes, it was a comfortable silence. This time however, with Kaede's boyfriend just leaving and Sasuke glaring at nothing, it was kind of awkward.

Kaede twirled a strand of her dark hair, shifting her eyes around the room and looking at anything that wasn't her dad.

Eventually, she stood up. "So... Uh, I'll be upstairs," she said, walking backwards and motioning towards the stairs with both thumbs. Sasuke grunted in reply and she took that as her cue to turn around and run up the stairs.

Kaede was fast which was very useful since she was a ninja. She wasn't sure where she got it from though. Her mother was decently fast, but not to an extreme. Then her father of course was a civilian. Still, she didn't worry about that for too long because being quick got her out of a lot of situations—whether they be life-threatening or just plain awkward.

When she got to her room, she opened the door with a relieved sigh and matching smile. Once she actually looked inside of her room though, that quickly vanished.

Jiro blinked looking up at her and glanced over at Akira, who was also staring at her. The younger of the two was standing on a small stool and rummaging through her drawer; the other was sitting on the edge of her bed, holding her diary.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Jiro said, crossing his arms. He looked over at Kaede. "It was _his_"—he pointed at Akira—"idea. I didn't want to do it but he threatened me with the new stuff his sensei taught him!"

Kaede took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose like she had seen her dad do countless times. Eventually, she snapped her head up, rage burning in her eyes. "_Get out of my room_," she hissed.

"But—" Akira began, holding up a finger like he was about to say the most important thing in the world.

"_No_," she hissed. "OUT!" she yelled, stepping aside and pointing towards the door. The two boys began walking out of the room. "Oh, give me that," she said to Akira, snatching her diary from his hands. He was hoping she wouldn't notice.

She groaned and flopped back onto her bed. She had to _baby-sit_ tomorrow.

**:: ::**

"She's alone now," Akihiro hissed at his partner. They were standing across the street from the Uchiha house, keeping tabs on their target.

"She's not alone. She's in a house full of ninja and ninja-in-training," Hideo replied, pulling a cigarette from his pocket.

"Her father hasn't been a ninja for nearly twenty years and her mother is slow to react," Akihiro reasoned.

Taking a drag from the newly lit bud, Hideo narrowed his eyes. "And when she does react, she's capable of smashing your brain in with one finger."

"Then how do you suggest we do this?" Akihiro asked, gruffly. He was preparing to smash Hideo's head in if he didn't get off his high horse.

Hideo rolled his eyes. "When she's asleep, maybe?" he asked, mockingly. "When we can gag her and tie her up so she can't call out for help?"

"She won't be asleep for _hours_."

"Then we wait for hours. We might even need to wait a couple days, just in case she saw us at that ramen stand."

Akihiro groaned. This was quite possibly the worst mission he'd been sent on yet.


	7. Chapter 7

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Sasuke grunted, lifting himself up off the sofa. He was suddenly not feeling very comfortable in his own home—as if someone was watching him or his kin. He didn't like it. Normally—or, say, twenty years ago—he would've been the first to thoroughly check the house. When he said _thoroughly_, he meant charka scan and then he'd proceed to murder anything and everything unallowed in his house or within thirty feet of it. But, sadly, he could no longer do that; his children were training to be ninja and, while he was very proud of them living up to the Uchiha name, that also meant they knew charka signatures. They'd instantly be alerted if he so much as turned on his Sharingan. When Kaede was small, before she'd happily detected herself to ninja training, it'd have been no problem. But she was a chūnin now.

He walked up the stairs, senses open as far as they would go. Sakurako was already in her crib, Jiro and Akira were running—most likely away from their sister, Sasuke noted with amusement—and Ai was still at the Naras'. Akira slammed into his father's sculpted chest. With a smirk, Sasuke lifted a brow at his oldest son as if to ask, _What did you do now?_

"Oh, uh, hi, Dad!" Akira said, running his and through his navy hair. It had steaks of his mother's pink highlighting their way through the long mass of hair; Akira just so happened to have his father's style of hair. "Jiro…Jiro made me steal Kaede's diary!"

The little six-year-old glared; it had the same intensity of any Uchiha's glare. "I did _not_!"

Sasuke chucked lowly at his children's antics, ruffled the liar's—who, of course, he knew to be Akira—hair, and turned away, walking to his room. He called lowly over his shoulder, "She's watching you tomorrow."

Akira swallowed. No parents, no older supervision. He really wished he hadn't done what he'd just done. Jiro, however, grinned; he liked his older sister better than he liked his older brother.

Sasuke opened the door to his room to find his wife standing on her tiptoes on top of a chair, trying to reach god knew what. With a small smile, the one he saved only for his Sakura, he sneaked up on her as silently as only he could do, and grabbed her by the waist, easily lifting her up to reach whatever it was she needed.

Sakura giggled, gripping the box that was out of her reach seconds ago closely to her chest. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun," she laughed as her husband pulled her back down. Who knew that nineteen hours a week of civilian boxing was as good as three hours a week of ninja sparring—which, goddamn, he wasn't allowed to do anymore. "Will you help me with the baby clothes?"

In her arms, a large pink box with the words _Kaede's baby things_ in Sakura's elegant script rested. Sakurako was smaller than her sister, but some of it should fit her soon. Sakura smiled when Sasuke gave her a careful nod; she hopped to the bed happily, raring the lid off it quickly. Inside the box, the reds and blues and pinks of their oldest daughter's baby clothes rested. Sakura set herself to pull them all out, one by one. "You know," she started, "I was planning to keep these until Kaede had her own daughter." They'd been too small for Ai.

Sasuke growled lowly. He remembered thinking long ago about how hard it would be to keep the boys off her; now not only did Kaede _enjoy_ the attention but also she had a steady boyfriend of three years. He adjusted himself behind his wife and leaned against the headboard. "Hn…" he grunted, frowning. He knew his wife would understand—she was the only one who could disconcert his grunts.

"While I prefer you to use _words_, Sasuke," Sakura muttered, understanding, as she thumbed through the size tags. "You know very well that it's very possible she'll marry Toyo. He's a good boy."

Sasuke grunted.

A giddy smile lifted Sakura's cheeks. "Ooh—do you remember this, Sasuke-kun?" she cooed, holding up a green pacifier. Sasuke smiled softly. It used to be Kaede's favorite. "She wouldn't sleep without it!"

"Yes, I do," he muttered lowly. He took it from his wife's hands and smiled caringly. His first baby…soon she would be all grown up. It clenched at his heart. "Why don't we set to giving her another sibling?" His breath tickled the shell of Sakura's ear.

Sakura swallowed. "Sasuke—"

But the baby clothes were already out of the way, the door closed and locked, and soundproof walls already soundproofing.

**:: ::**

Kaede stared emptily at the TV screan, wondering A) _what's for dinner?_ and B) _why isn't there anything to watch?_ She skipped through game shows and reality shows, glaring briefly at Jersey Shore before flipping the channel. Her aunt was from New Jersey—in the USA—and she was nothing like those orange freaks.

Something sounded at her window. Her onyx eyes danced to the window, and, seeing nothing, she shrugged, turning back to the TV. Between channel surfing and watching her window, she fell asleep.

**:: ::**

Akihiro smiled, practically jumping out of his skin. It'd been hours since the girl fell asleep; it was dark outside. Her parents were asleep, never mind the fact that they were naked. Her brothers were resting in their respective—and elegant—rooms. The littlest one was sleeping soundly; and the other one—Ai?—was still no home. "She's asleep!" he hissed to his partner.

Hideo rolled his eyes. "How _long_ has she been asleep?" he asked, as if his partner were stupid. Which he was.

"A few hours—I waited. And everyone's asleep—I checked," the boar of an idiot hissed again. It was very out of character for him to _wait_, but he'd been tired of being looked at like an idiot. Hideo nodded, sneaking in through the window.


	8. Chapter 8

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Akihiro followed him through, thankful that the mission was finally almost over and he could return to working with people that were _not_ Hideo.

Being much bigger than his partner however, once he entered, he was quick to run into the desk located next to the window. A small ceramic cat fell off, shattering on impact with the ground. Hideo snapped his eyes over to his partner, glaring. Oh, how he wanted to reprimand the moron. He refrained though as the girl shifted in her bed.

One more sound and she could easily wake up.

That was why he preferred kidnapping princesses or something of the like. And _not_ other ninjas. Ninjas were much more alert and woke up much more easily.

He carefully took out rope and a piece of cloth from his bag. This was by far the hardest part. Once the victim was gagged and bound, it was easy to get them out of the house.

Hideo motioned Akihiro over, giving him a sharp look that easily portrayed the message to _not_ hit anything else. The larger man fought back the urge to hiss at his temporary superior. He only had one eye! Did the other man _not_ see the eye patch?

He repressed his frustrations and grabbed the rope from Hideo's hands.

The got closer to the girl slowly.

She was making one part easy by sleeping with her mouth wide open and drool coming out. Unfortunately, she was also sleeping on her side with her head pressing against her hands.

Hideo lifted up her head with the utmost care. Had he not done this as many time as he had, she most definitely would have woken up. He put the cloth in her mouth and tied it around her head.

And then her eyes snapped open.

"_Shit_," Akihiro hissed, rushing over and tying her hands together. It was at that moment that Kaede actually registered what was going on and began thrashing around violently.

"Her legs!" Hideo hissed. Hideo pinned her upper body to the bed, leaving only her legs to kick at Akihiro. The man was quite a bit stronger than her though so once he actually got _a hold_ of her legs, he easily pinned them down as well and tied them together with just a bit of difficulty.

Not only not only the cloth muffled her screams, but also by the sound proofing jutsu Hideo had enacted before coming in. He didn't want to take any chances. The jutsu wasn't 100 percent effective considering sound could still travel out the window. It was good enough though considering no one in the house had woken up.

He smirked as he watched the girl continue to desperately thrash around, trying to work her way out of the charka infused rope.

She was still screaming, that was obvious enough. He could only imagine how loud she would be with out the makeshift gag. She was crying now though. There were no sobs through her desperate—and unheard—screams but tears were pouring down her face.

"Let's go," Hideo said, crossing his arms. Akihiro tossed her over his shoulder and jumped out the window.

Before leave, Hideo made a point to make her bed and look around the room, smirking.

He loved his job.


	9. Chapter 9

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Sasuke's dark eyes opened suddenly. Something didn't feel right. He couldn't hear anything amiss within his home and that made it worse; he couldn't _hear_ anything from Kaede's room—and she usually snored louder than her uncle, Burūsu. He glanced down at Sakura, who was draped over his chest. "Sakura," he muttered, lightly moving out from under her. He searched his drawers for his boxers and pulled on a pair of shorts. "Sakura."

This time, she woke. Sakura lifted her head from the mattress and asked, "What's wrong?"

Ignoring her question, Sasuke asked, "What do you hear?"

Sakura pulled on her denim—which her husband's sister-in-law has introduced her to—shorts and one of Sasuke's navy shirts, already next to Sasuke. "Nothing," she grunted, just as worried. The feeling of something being off nested itself in her chest. The last time they hadn't heard Kaede snoring was when she was a baby and had almost suffocated on her own baby blanket. She might be trying to sneak out again, but Sasuke would have woken up to her footsteps on the stairs. "I'll check her room," she said, "you check outside."

Sasuke nodded. Tugging on his open-toed boots, left the room, and started walking down the stairs.

Sakura was in her oldest daughter's room. Her face fell. Struggle was written everywhere on her daughter's green sheets. Charka practically covered the walls. There was a dent in the girl's desk, as if a big man had accidentally slammed into it. With a swallow, Sakura ripped a note off Kaede's notebook. She grabbed the pen on the desk and started righting. _Naruto,_ she wrote, _tell Tsuande Kaede was kidnapped. Sasuke and I are going after her. Tell them_ everything _Naruto. And, please…take care of my babies._

Sakura leaned out the window. "Nothing?" she asked out the window, knowing the answer. A look of horror was painted on Sasuke's face as he shook his head. She knew he'd sensed something she hadn't. "Go!" she shouted, and leaped out the window to Naruto's. They lived on different streets but close. She tacked it to the door and ran after her husband, following the charka trail he'd left.

Sakura got a glimpse of Sasuke's expression. She'd never seen him so panicked. "You know them," she stated, shouting through the wind that raced by.

Blood was pumping in Sasuke's ears so loudly that it made the roaring wind seem as silent as a purring cat. Somehow, he managed to hear his wife, and shouted back, "Kaede was…" He didn't know how to put it in words. "Orochimaru!"

And that was all that he needed to say. Charka pulsed through both their legs, propelling themselves faster. The were both blurs, one ahead of the other, flying through the trees, never mind the fact that they weren't wearing shoes.

**:: ::**

Kaede thrashed around in the big ape's grip as they carried her through the forest. The two were running through the forest floor, apparently confident in her kidnapping. She had to do something—anything…! Something to remove this gag, to alert anyone near here. Shikamaru-san should be near here, his mission should be ending. Without this damned gag, she could call out…

Grandpa Kakashi had taught her something. Something to do with fire. A "Fire Release" of some sort. She didn't remember it. She needed to get this gag off, shout, do _something._

"Oh, stop it!" the big man that held her growled. "Mommy and Daddy aren't coming to help you."

Kaede wanted to shout, "I don't need them! I can save myself!" but it came out as, "Mmi mmmd heem mmm!" She thrashed even more violently when she realized she couldn't; it wasn't as if she hadn't known that already, but it fueled her chagrin.

Fire Release… She shouted, remembering it suddenly, beneath her gag, as she made the symbols as best she could with her wrists bound, "Katon!" Fire exited her open mouth, almost burning her cheeks as it flamed through the cloth and into the air above her; the gag broke in two and fell to the floor. Ashes fell to the ground and she yelled, "_Help! Help, somebody! Help!_"

"Bitch!" the ape shouted, covering the girl's mouth with his hand. She had a set of lungs on her! She bit into his hand, but it was callused and it didn't hurt him. "Shut up." He was covering her nose. Kaede couldn't breathe. Shouting would be a lost cause and she needed air to do that fancy ninjutsu. Her eyes were closing. "That's right, pretty little girl, sleep," were the last words the teenage Uchiha heard before she fell unconscious.


	10. Chapter 10

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Kaede woke up in a dark room. She didn't know time it was and she didn't know what was around her. She did realize that the rope had finally been cut off of her (it felt like they had nicked her too).

She considered screaming again but she assumed there wasn't anyone around to hear her. It probably only end up working against her in the long run. She tried to think of something she could do so she would be able to see. She could always attempt to tap into her Fire Release charka again.

She couldn't remember the hand seals thou—her eyes were burning. They felt like they were on fire. Her initial thought was that they had done something to her. That they were going to torture her until she cracked.

She didn't want to crack, but she was like her mother in that way. Neither of them ever wanted to break down but more often than not, they _did_.

Now she was crying and it wasn't helping her burning eyes at all. She desperately tried to remember the seals just so she could see.

Eventually, she gave up and looked around the room even though she could see anything. In the far corner (she wondered just how large the room was) she saw a glowing light. Was that... was that _charka_? She stood up and then she could see it everywhere.

The tears stopped running down her cheeks as she became distracted with that. Once she had calmed down enough, she was able to think clearly and remember the hand seals for a low-key fire jutsu Kakashi had taught her.

She formed the seals and whispered the name of the Fire Release technique. The fire spit out of her mouth and she could see her surroundings for a couple seconds. Mirrors surrounded her. Looking at the mirror, she could see her own charka. What had those guys _done_ to her?

She looked at her continuously burning eyes.

The jet-black color of her eyes had been traded for a bright red. Around the pupil was a circle with what looked like commas coming off of it.

Her eyes were wide and she continued to stare at her reflection even when the fire died out and once again left her in the dark.

**:: ::**

"But wait, Sasuke! Orochimaru is _dead_!" Sakura called. He had always been faster than her; she was falling behind. "You killed him, remember?" She didn't want to believe that somebody like _that_ could have her daughter. She could handle kidnappers that only wanted money, but Orochimaru was _insane_. She didn't want to think about what could happen to Kaede if it really was him...

"Half the people that fought in the fourth war were dead, Sakura," Sasuke replied, blankly. "People coming back to life aren't really that uncommon anymore. He had a lot of subordinates—most of which would gladly trade their life for his." He wasn't liking this. At all. He was going to brutally murder whoever it was that took his daughter and then maybe a few other people for good measure.

He wasn't a ninja anymore though. He wasn't even supposed to perform any jutsu if anyone was around. (He broke that rule a long time ago but Tsunade didn't seem to mind too much—assuming she knew, she was drunk a lot, after all.)

He activated his Sharingan and was instantly (not that he would ever admit it—ever) grateful that Naruto had such an influence over the Hokage. She wanted to sentence him to death. When Naruto talked her out of that, she wanted to sentence him to twenty years in prison with no hope of getting out early and she wanted to seal his Sharingan and charka. When Naruto talked her out of _that_, she went with only sealing his Sharingan and charka. Finally, when Naruto talked her out of _that_, she agreed to let him keep both as long as he never used them in front of people. He also wasn't an "official" ninja and couldn't go on mission or anything of the like.

He really didn't mind that though considering he was still a genin in Konoha and if he was stuck with 12 year olds and a sensei painting fences and doing escort missions until the next Chūnin Exams (which Tsunade would be in charge of and would probably choose to not promote him), he might have decided to ram his sword into the elders anyways. Tsunade, too, for good measure.

That wasn't the case though and while he was still borderline psychotic—at least it was only "borderline."


	11. Chapter 11

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

The sun was rising and beating dry rays of sunshine into Naruto's eyes. His wife, being pregnant with their second, slept deeply and soundly. He dressed himself and walked out the door, ready to do a little sparring to wake him. The door slammed behind him, dragging with it the ruffle of paper. Naruto swiveled around to see the note. It was written in Sakura's elegant handwriting. He pulled it from the tack that held it.

Holy—!

Okay. So. Sparring was out the question.

The blonde ran to the Hokage's office. He gave up slamming desperately on the door in favor of just storming in through an open window. It was early in the morning; it was the only time Tsuande wasn't drunk off her ass. "Tsuande!" He was too worried to add the either suffix. _His niece was in danger_, for the love of god! "Tsuande, I _need_ Sasuke and Sakura's file, _now_!" he shouted, already in the old blonde's office.

"What? Why? What happened?" Tsunade wondered. Nothing could panic Naruto—unless something had happened to one of his—or Sasuke and Sakura's—kids. He was very serious when it came to one of them. "Who's hurt?"

"Kaede—she's been kidnapped!" the Uzumaki shouted. He looked ready to rip his hair out. "Don't ask by who because I have no idea who; all I know is that Sakura left me this note and Sasuke and she are gone—gone and she asked me to tell them! So give me the damned files, old lady!"

Tsuande was too infected by the horror and panic in her ninja's voice to be offended. She ran to a filing cabinet and thumbed through it, looking for the U's. She threw the thick-ass file at Naruto and he caught it deftly; she went straight to the H's and threw Sakura's file at him too. Then she turned to Naruto. "What the fuck are you still doing here? Go to the damn kids before they wake up!"

**:: ::**

The charka trail ended here. Sasuke glared; where the fuck could they have gone? He remembered those two idiots from a time he tried hard to forget. They'd been even younger than he was, and they sucked at anything that didn't have to do with brute strength. They couldn't have hidden themselves or their charka.

Sakura watched him. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"It just _stops_," Sasuke growled, searching desperately for some hint—any hint. No matter how hard he looked, there was no other trail.

Sakura growled too, a growl nursed by anger and worry that made the nearby animals run away. "If there's nothing back, nothing front, nothing up," she said, remembering what Tsunade had taught her as she lured charka into her fists, "then something's got to be down!" Her fist flew into the ground; the forest floor crumbled on impact.

It was hollow under the ground.

Sakura and Sasuke jumped inside the underground lair.


	12. Chapter 12

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

One thing Orochimaru was always good at was having tight security. One thing he wasn't that good at was thinking ahead. He had taught Sasuke a lot—among that was how to disable said security. They had always given him shit because he was thirteen and Orochimaru held him in higher regards than anyone—even Kabuto at times.

The security at the front gate always used the same formation. They were easy to get passed. The farther back you went in the lair, the more intense security became.

Sasuke had already disabled every single one when he was fifteen. Surely he could do the same twenty years later.

He still sparred with Naruto and Sakura when the kids weren't around to keep up his speed, strength, and stamina so he was still just as good of a ninja—if not better. Sakura was still easy to beat (but Naruto had once told him that she had said, "I just don't want to break his face—it's too pretty"). Naruto, he could still beat without using his Sharingan. They had an agreement that he wouldn't use his bloodline limit and Naruto would use the nine tails.

When they landed in the lair, three security guards almost immediately ambushed them. They were taken out quickly and before they could press a button to alert the other guards.

If they could get in without running into other guards, this could be quick and easy.

Though Sasuke had never been to this particular base, he had noticed among the ones that he had gone to that the layouts were nearly identical.

There were only two places that they could have taken Kaede—the dungeon or... Well, he just hoped that she was in the dungeon.

Grabbing his wife's hand, he led her towards the back of the lair. There was room upon room, anywhere they could easily duck into if security was coming. The rooms were almost always empty and when they were, they just held a subordinate that was sleeping.

If they woke up (because Orochimaru did tend to only want the best, after all), Sasuke quickly enacted a genjutsu so they wouldn't even realize someone else was there.

"Sasuke...," Sakura whispered nervously, squeezing his hand tightly.

"Hn?" he grunted in a low reply.

"She... She's going to be okay, right?"

Sasuke didn't answer and that in itself was answer enough. _I don't know._

**:: ::**

Kaede's eyes had started to adjust to the darkness and she could almost see everything in the room now. Not that there was much _to_ see, considering there were mainly only mirrors in the room.

Her eyes had stopped burning (or maybe they still were and she had just stopped noticing) but she could still see the unknown color and pattern in her eye when she looked in a mirror.

She still wasn't sure what it was. Maybe they had done some kind of creepy experiment on her while she was unconscious; she had heard stories about a clan that would transfer each other's eyes because of a Dōjutsu-type kekkei genkai. Maybe they were from that clan and were trying to spread their bloodline limit or something equally as crazy.

Hell, maybe it was even a kekkei genkai that her parents never told her about. One that ran in her family. She didn't know how that was possible considering her mother's parents weren't ninja and her father wasn't a ninja in the first place a clans with kekkei genkai normally demanded that you be a ninja (at least that was what she had heard—Toyo used Dōjutsu so he knew quite a bit about other types.)

She sighed and lay back on the cold floor, staring up at the ceiling. She saw a small little blob up there and squinted her eyes, trying to see.

She considered used a Fire Release technique again but she had been _kidnapped_ and it was really probably best to save her charka.

...Maybe if she just used a fraction of the required amount of charka rather than all of it so it would be smaller... Eh, she was probably going to be stuck in there for a while, what did she have to loose? (Somewhere in the back of her mind, a sarcastic voice answered back, "Charka, maybe?" She promptly told it to shut up.)

She continued to stare at the blob as the stream of fire shot upward, lightly covering her with ash along the way.

It was a light bulb.

There had been a light in there the entire time.

She noticed a door too and right next to it was the light switch.

She let out a long stream of cuss words. When she got home (because she _would_ get home, right?), she was not telling _anyone_ about this. Ever. She face-palmed and walked over in the direction she was pretty sure the door was and felt around for the light switch.

And finally, she was no longer in the dark.

The sudden change did make her eyes burn again though.


	13. Chapter 13

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

There were guards exactly where Sasuke expected them to be. These were harder to take care of, but with the help of his ass-kicking wife—and yes, he was proud to say that his Sakura bashed in a couple of heads—it was quickly done. They were literally right next to the dungeon—and _god_, how he hoped his little girl was there instead of the experiment chambers. It would be best for all of them if she was there, if no one was guarding her. While he knew that it would be best if they hadn't placed her with any ninja, Sasuke still felt as if it would be an insult to his clan—his daughter was an Uchiha!

Sakura kicked one last head in. "Where to now?" she asked, panicked. Sasuke didn't know what was going to happen to their little girl—and that was scary. Far worse than anything she could ever imagine even in her most morbid nightmares. And, dear god, Kaede was only fifteen—but Sakura knew that her age wouldn't matter to most of the idiots around here. Rage once again fueled her footsteps. If any of those bastards so much as laid a finger on her little girl, god himself was going to have to leave the skies and beg her to stop, so help her.

The red of the Sharingan burned through the damp darkness of the hallway, stopping dead. Was that—? Holy fuck, it was! Sasuke grabbed his wife's arm, running to where he saw the scarlet charka. It wasn't the normal green of Kaede's charka; it was _scarlet_—Sharingan scarlet. Holy fuck, his daughter needed her parents _right_ fucking _now_.

**:: ::**

Naruto sighed. He'd waken all the Uchiha children at six thirty in the morning and none of them were very happy about it. He'd even sent Akira out for Ai. The little pink-haired five-year-old stared at him with innocent, albeit annoyed, green eyes. Akira glared at him with a vert-colored stare—how one manages to look so much like one's father even with green eyes, Naruto will never know. Jiro yawned, not fully awake.

"Damn it," Akira cussed, "let us go back to sleep. Anything you've got to say can wait until a _godly_ hour, can't it, Uncle Naruto?" His eyes were shooting green lasers right into Naruto's neck.

"_No_," Naruto growled. This brought all of the Uchiha children's attention; Naruto was usually so kindhearted and teasing. There was no hint of that in _this_ Naruto's voice. It scared the children—not because they were afraid of him, per se, but rather of what made him like this.

Jiro yawned again, coming to attention. "Then can we at least wake Kaede-nee-chan?" he asked. Whenever he was feeling particularly babyish, like when he first woke up, he'd use honorifics on everyone. "If it's so important, she should hear it. Right, Naruto-san?"

Naruto swallowed. Akira noticed that there were _tears_ in the blonde's eyes. He'd never, _ever_ seen Naruto cry; he'd thought it was about as impossible as his dad kissing someone other than his mom. "Kaede-chan…Kaede-chan's been kidnapped," he announced, suddenly finding a design on the manila envelopes he'd lain on the coffee table.

Akira's green eyes widened; Jiro stared blankly ahead; Ai started crying. "Mommy!" the little girl shouted. "I want Mommy!" While she may be wiser than her years, Ai was still a little girl at heart. "Where's Mommy?"

Akira had already placed his little sister on Naruto's lap, unknowing of how to shut her up. The blonde was rubbing the girl's pink head, shushing her as he often did to his own daughter when she had nightmares. "Shut her up!" Akira begged, worried about both his sisters. Once woken, Sakurako was hard to put back to sleep; having both girls crying would only wake up the whole neighborhood.

Ai had been shushed by Naruto's superior fathering skills. She sucked on her thumb—something her mother would _never_ allow—and rocked herself back and forth on her Uncle Naruto's lap. Jiro still stared; but somehow, in the midst of all his confusion, he managed to ask, "Where's Mommy? And Dad—where's he?"

Naruto swallowed. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about," he said, rocking the girl in his arms back and forth. He wondered how this would affect _her_. The younger the child, the more traumatizing. He searched her green eyes for any of the Sharingan's red. When he saw nothing, Naruto yanked Sasuke's folder from the coffee table. "Read this," he ordered Akira as he handed the twelve-year-old the big file.

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Akira blinked. "...No?"

Naruto twitched. Did the boy not understand how _serious_ this was? He groaned. "And why not?" he asked. Had he not had Ai in his lap, he would have crossed his arms.

"Do you see that thing? Can't you just give me like... A summary or something?" Naruto took in a deep breath and tried to put on a happy face. He loved kids, really he did, but Sasuke and Sakura were both stubborn. Their kids were the exact same.

"Fine then, tell me—what does Sa—your dad do for a living?"

They all thought about it for a while. "Nothing?" Ai asked cautiously, tugging at her choppy pink hair, nervously.

"Nothing," Naruto repeated as a statement. "Where did he grow up?" he asked them, eyebrow raised.

"...Konoha, right?" Akira replied.

"Right. A ninja village." He wondered if they were getting it. Probably not yet. "Who was on your mom's genin team?"

"You and...," Akira trailed off, thinking. Who _was_ her other teammate? The other two were thinking also. They didn't know. Did they really know that little about their parents? How much had been hidden from them?

"Do you know what happened to your grandparent's on your dad's side?"

"They died. They were old," Akira said, plainly.

"No. They died, yes, but they certainly weren't old. Tell me, what do you know about the Uchiha Clan before you were actually apart of it?"

"...That Kaede was apart of it," Akira said, being a smart ass.

Naruto glared at him. "Do you not realize how serious this is?" he snapped. "Yes, Kaede was apart of it! And she might not be for long! I'm trying to explain this to you!"

He shut up. Naruto took a deep breath. He was scared, he was panicked, he was getting pissed off, but not enough to loose control.

"I don't know how far back I'd need to go for you to get this. In Konoha, there are four clans that are regarded as noble. In class, you're normally only told about three—the Aburame, Akimichi, and Hyūga, right?" They nodded. "The fourth one isn't said much anymore because of some... bad decisions on a lot of people's parts. The fourth noble clan would be the Uchiha Clan." Eyebrows went up at that. "Eventually, the Uchiha's planned to basically overthrow the village.

"This was brought to the Elder's attention and because of the threat, they ordered the person who told them to wipe out the _entire_ _clan_. He didn't, of course, otherwise you wouldn't be here. He just killed everyone except your father, _his_ little brother."

Akira felt sick to his stomach. "Wait... So... Our uncle... killed everyone..."

Naruto looked at him with sad eyes. "Yes."

"How... How old was...," he trailed off.

"Sasuke was... Eight, I think..." Ai gasped and looked at him with wide eyes. "Itachi was thirteen."

"Isn't Itachi dead? Killed by a missing nin?" Jiro spoke up. His mother had told him about his uncle once. Not much, not that he had killed his entire family, mostly just that he was dead and had been killed by a missing nin.

"Yes. Sasuke had been planning revenge against him since he was eight," Naruto said. He almost felt like he should be telling them this. It wasn't his story to tell. "He worked on getting stronger, more powerful. He dedicated his _life_ to it. He trained under Kakashi-sensei with me and Sakura-chan."

"So... You're saying Dad was a ninja? Just like you and mom... And he never told us?"

"He isn't a Konoha ninja anymore. He lost that when he left at thirteen to train under Orochimaru—one of the legendary sannin that went... well, bad."

Jiro crossed his arms. "Orochimaru got killed by a missing nin too." He had learned that in school.

"Sasuke killed a lot of people to get what he wanted," Naruto said simply. They all felt sick to their stomach now.

A few minutes later, Sakurako woke up and started to cry.

**:: ::**

Kaede heard a door open. It wasn't the one to her small little room. It didn't sound far away though. It couldn't be though, she supposed. She hadn't heard anyone at all since she had been in the strange room, she didn't suspect that she would suddenly be hearing something from far away.

All she could do was hope that they weren't coming for her.

She heard two men talking. She could make out anything they were saying though. Then she heard what sounded like someone getting thrown into a wall.

Oh God... What was going to happen to her?

The footsteps resumed.

She closed her eyes and hoped they weren't coming for her. She hoped the door to the room she was in wouldn't be opened.

Her prayers seemed to have gone unheard when the door creaked itself open.

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

One man looked at her, eyes dark and horrible. He had a smirk and was looking at her with a strange glint in his eye. Kaede had seen enough movies and read enough books that the look wasn't completely foreign. It was, however, completely frightening.

Kaede blinked her burning, red eyes—because, from the little light in the room and the light that peeked in through the opened door, she could tell were still crimson and the comma-thingies were spinning now, in fear she guessed—and gulped. She wanted nothing more than to run into the arms of her father, where it had always been safe, and listen to her mother's soft humming as she made her favorite rice ball. She scurried away into a corner, tears once again resurfacing. They still did nothing for her flaming eyes.

"Pretty little girl," he said. He had sandy brown hair like wet sand and eyes like yellow bananas. He had a pretty-boy face; it looked out of place with the sneer on his lips and the obvious brute of his strength. He was probably much more skilled than she could ever hope to be at the age of fifteen. "You're going to do me and my _friend_ a favor," he continued. "Have your parents explained a man's _needs_ to you yet?" He didn't wait for the young Uchiha to answer. "Good, then you under—"

A well-aimed kick to the face cut off his rant. The man didn't even have time to shout in pain and shock before a well-thrown kunai to the throat embedded itself into his throat. And then a familiar figure with unmistakable pink hair was straddling the big man, fists flying. "You fucking _bastard_!" Sakura's comforting voice—even when cussing up a storm—shouted. "How _dare_ you touch my baby?" she shouted. Her strong fist coming in contact with the man's face for the umpteenth time in the last nine seconds. She pulled the kunai from the man's throat—who the hell threw it, because it couldn't have been Sakura—and growled at the man. "_My_ _baby_!" she shouted again, before a familiarly pale hand rested itself on Sakura's shoulder.

Sakura looked up, smiling as if thankful for the stop, and hopped off the unconscious man to her daughter; the girl's gaze was as dark as her father's, and just as red. She pulled Kaede out of the corner she had hidden herself in and looked the little Uchiha over.

Kaede had never looked more like a little girl than at that moment. Her long navy hair was disheveled, pulled from it's usual ponytail as if someone had been afraid she's use the hair tie for a weapon; her skin was pale, horribly pale and scared; she sat like a rag-doll in her mother's arms, staring emptily at everything yet seeing nothing; behind the spinning black tomoe, her gaze was fearful. She was just staring.

Sakura fussed over her, smoothing her dark hair. "Oh, sweetie, did he touch you? Did he do anything?" she asked. "Sweetie, baby, are you okay?"

Behind where Sakura stood, Sasuke walked closer, a kunai ready in case any more ninja tried to mess with _Uchiha_ _Sasuke_ or his family. He kneeled down next to her, wanting to reach out, to comfort his daughter, to hold her. But he'd always been socially inept and children had only changed that by half a millimeter.

Thankfully, Kaede saved him from having to say anything. She threw herself into her parents' embrace and cried. "Daddy! Mommy!" she shouted, all the fear she'd kept in rushing out of her like water out of a broken dam. She didn't even question the fact that her father seemed agile and smooth, like a ninja, nor that her mother was shoeless. She was just happy to be with them, saved. Because if she couldn't trust her parents to give comfort, she couldn't trust for anything.

Then, when she was all cried out, Kaede pulled away from her parents and turned to face her father. It seemed he would know about this. "Daddy," she said, getting her father's attention quickly because she never called him that anymore. She pointed to her eyes. "Daddy, what's this?"

**:: ::**

Naruto had run upstairs, quick to shush the child. But she was still crying, horribly upset. He was rocking the kid back and forth. "Oh, sweet mother of god!" Akira shouted, trying to hear himself over his sister's wails. "Shut her up, please!"

Ai was peeking from behind her elder brother, staring at the small little girl in her uncle's arms. "Um, Uncle Naruto-san?" Ai called. Rocking the girl, the blonde turned to the little kid; she was good with babies. "I think Sakurako wants her binkie," she said, pointing at the little thing that rested on the floor in shadows. The sun was still in the motion of rising; it was throwing around shadows like nobody's business. Ai walked over to the thing, picked it up and washed it off in the bathroom that attached to the room—every room had it's own bathroom in this huge manor—then walked to her frail little sister. Once the thing was in the girl's mouth, she was quite.

"How _do_ you do it?" Akira asked, amazed at his little sister. It took his parents _hours_ to get Sakurako to shut her trap.

Naruto hurried back downstairs; the two that had followed him upstairs trailed behind him. He found Jiro staring intently at the open file as if it was the most interesting thing he'd ever read—he was watching it as if were the best novel ever written. "Uncle Naruto," he called, hearing as they came down but not looking away from the file. He was awake and he didn't use honorifics as much; Jiro was a big reader. "This is… Dad did… Mom fell in love with _this_?" he asked, reading as he did so. "Dad…he was horrible."

"Was," Naruto emphasized. "But isn't. He was just confused and scared." Naruto was always the one to stand up for his best friend. "Jiro, Akira, Ai," he said, sitting back down. Ai and Akira sat next to him while Jiro kneeled on the floor and leaned over the folder. "I want you to imagine something." He felt horrible; as if he was the worse person in the world for what he was about to ask of the kids. But this was their history; this was what brought them into the world. "Imagine: You come home one day and everything's quite. It's dark and it's scary.

"And you see your sister, Kaede, glaring at you as if you were the world's biggest mistake. She has a kunai in her hand, covered with the most blood you've ever seen." Naruto's voice was dead and sad. Sasuke had never talked about the way he found out that his clan was dead, but Naruto always imagined it was horrible—what else could it be, rainbow and gumdrops? No. "And your mom and dad's bodies are dead in front of you. And Kaede just _looks_ at you and says, 'You aren't worthy of my kunai,' and just _leaves_. How would you feel?"

Ai's lip was quivering; she had tears in her onyx eyes. She looked ready to cry; and that made Naruto feel worse as be pulled the little girl onto his lap, rocking her as she sucked her thumb. Akira looked outraged, his big green eyes wide and his lips curled into a sneer. "Holy chocolate chip!" Jiro shouted, eyes scanning the open file. He's only just scratching the surface. He'd skimmed through it while Naruto had worked with Sakurako, but now he was actually reading it; he was on the second page. "Dad has the Sharingan? I thought that thing was extinct!"

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Sasuke didn't say anything as his Sharingan quickly receded.

Well shit.

He looked over at Sakura who was laughing awkwardly and twirling a strand of pink hair. He inwardly rolled his eyes. She was so..._Sakura_.

He glanced between the two girls.

Damn it.

He was never all that good with words. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. What exactly was he supposed to say? ...Kaede had asked a question, right? Right.

"Sharingan," he said lowly. Sakura rolled her eyes and gave him a look that said something like '_I think she wants an explanation?_' He twitched.

"Shar...ingan...?" she questioned, tilting her head.

"It's a kekkei genkai," he said, blankly. "You'll learn how to control it eventually."

She blinked. She thought she had heard something about the Sharingan but she couldn't remember where. The academy, probably. It was supposed to be extinct if she remembered correctly though, so why would she have it?

"Control... it...," she repeated, confused. What the hell was going on?

Sasuke sighed angrily and activated his own Sharingan to show her. "_Yes_," he hissed.

Her eyes widened and she blinked.

"Wha—?"

Sakura face-palmed. "Why don't we just go home?" she said, breaking up the little pow-wow.

Sasuke grunted in reply and Kaede nodded. Home. Home sounded nice.

**:: ::**

Naruto decided that he hated kids.

Sasuke probably did too and he just really enjoyed the sex, but seriously—Naruto hated kids. If he wasn't so incredibly whipped, he would straight up tell Hinata that _no_, he would not have another one of these _monsters_.

(Plus, Natsuko was pretty hard to handle by herself. She was too much like him. Shame. He'd be okay with a kid like Hinata. He liked Hinata. She was _awesome_.)

Despite his newfound hatred for children, he continued to sit on the couch in Sasuke and Sakura's living room, watching the little monsters do stupid things.

Well... Akira was doing stupid things. Ai and Jiro were sitting in a corner by themselves; it looked like they were plotting. Sakurako was back in her crib, asleep and _quiet_.

Naruto ducked when Akira threw the fake shuriken (used by Jiro and Ai to practice) at him. He had pretty good aim; he wasn't that fast though. Naruto would still hold a grudge against him. Forever.

(But not forever because Naruto was actually a very forgiving person.)

The three had gotten over the initial shock that they had been lied to their entire life and were now just waiting for their parents to actually come home—hopefully with their sister.


	14. Chapter 15

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

But of course life just wasn't that easy. It has never been for the Uchiha Clan, _ever_. Sasuke thought that the world just personally hated him and anyone who had ever loved him—namely his family. The universe either had its balls well attached or was stupider than _Naruto_, because _no one_ messed with the Uchiha. Sasuke was _not_ above kicking empty air and pretending it was the cosmic force that had it out for him and his reviving family. And, _of course_, he was thinking all of this while Orochimaru's slithery voice whooped and his slimy hands clapped.

"Sssssuch a beautiful family, Sssssssasuke-kun," he was saying. "Oh—and with Sssssakura-chan!" Here, the clapping got louder. "I remember when you were sssssmall! Didn't you try to kill her, Sssssasuke-kun?"

That struck a nerve. He had been a confused little boy made insane by this slithering snake; he had almost killed the best thing in his life because of it. It wasn't _one_ kunai that was sent at the voice, but two. Sakura was angry with him too. "Shut up!" she shouted. Oh, god, Sasuke noticed, her voice was cracking. "Shut _up_, you slimy bastard! You should be fucking _dead_! Sasuke killed you once, he can kill you again!"

Another kunai was sent flying. Sakura was no longer kneeled next to her daughter; she was standing, trying desperately not to cry in front of her already-scared child, scanning around to see where to shoot her next projectile. "You tried to take _my baby_! Why would you need my baby! Wasn't having Sasuke for eight years pleasure enough? I don't care anyway—you _can't_ have any of my babies!"

Her awkwardness was gone, replaced by a burning anger and a chilling reminder of the Cold Years—the time when Sasuke wasn't around. She was gripping her kunai so hard that her knuckles were white.

"Ah, but Sssssakura-chan, that'sss where you're wrong."

Two kunai were aimed at the direction his voice was coming from. Neither Sakura's nor Sasuke's seemed to hit Orochimaru.

**:: ::**

The silence in the huge Uchiha household was everlasting. The sun had been up for at least an hour now, and still no one had opened the door that they were all staring at with such intensity. No one was slamming the door into the wall, yelling a hello, before stomping up stairs. No one was opening the door carefully, checking if her daughter had broken the hinges, before smiling at her kids and hugging them as if she hadn't seen them in thousands of years. No one was opening the door like the house was the most comfortable place on earth as he smirked a happy smirk at his family.

It was already 7:30. It has been an hour since Naruto had woken them all up. God knows how long Sasuke and Sakura had been out, let alone Kaede.

Akira's stomach growled like a ferial animal that's been attacked. "Jiro, can you?" the eldest brother asked.

Jiro was knee-deep in his father's papers. Open-mouthed and wide-eyed, the young onyx-eyed cook didn't bother to look up from the file. This was the best novel he'd ever read. He was at the part where his father had been reunited with Team Seven. "Cook it…" he muttered, his mind focused mostly on the file, "yourself…"

"But I burn everything!" Akira shouted. Jiro didn't even bother answering. "Naruto?"

Blue eyes wide, Naruto shook his head and shouted a firm, "Uh-uh!"

"Mommy and Daddy left some miso chicken in the fridge," Ai said through her sleepy haze. All this information had her tired. "We didn't have dinner yesterday."

Akira grinned at his little sister, picking her up from their uncle's lap and spinning her around. "I love this kid!" he announced to no one. Then, he asked his sister, "How do you do it?"

But Ai was hugging herself to her brother, green eyes dropping and pink hair messy; she was already asleep in Akira's arms. She'd always thought Akira had comfortable hugs whenever he could stop being a perverted old freak like Grandpa Kakashi.

"Okay, so…she's asleep," Akira muttered, holding her tight and walking up the stairs already.

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Sakura dropped to her knees and covered her mouth to hold in sobs as the voice continued to taunt them. Tears were pricking around her eyes but _she was not going to cry, damn it_.

Kaede didn't know what was going on but she crawled over to her mother and hugged her.

"Oh Ssssakura, sstill sso _young_," he taunted. He laughed.

Sasuke dropped down next to Sakura. He started shaking and he was breathing heavy. He felt like that same eight-year old boy who came home late. He felt like he was walking through the Uchiha complex all over again and seeing the bodies of his cousins, his aunt and uncle that he had spoken to earlier, all of them littering the ground, lifelessly.

He shut his eyes tightly. He could see the same old scene in his head.

He was confused. He was afraid.

He felt that same feeling he felt so long ago (yet he remembered it like it was yesterday) of _I'm going to die tonight_.

He inhaled a large breath and opened his eyes. He felt water on his face and he couldn't see anything—there was just darkness. He coughed and looked around.

He was confused. He was afraid. He was alone.

His eyes hardened and he was pissed.

Now he felt like he was sixteen again. He started laughing randomly. Someone was going to die tonight—and it sure as hell wasn't going to be him.

**:: ::**

"Mom?" Kaede said, looking around. It was dark again. So, so dark. Sakura didn't answer. "...Dad?" There was no answer to that either.

This... This was just some kind of genjutsu, right? She wasn't really alone, right?

She tried to move her heads to form the seal to break it. She was stuck. She could move them a couple centimeters above the table before her movement was completely restricted. It was the same with her legs too.

Lights flicked on, she squinted her eyes to try and let as little light in as possible while still being able to see.

She glanced around the room. She was on some kind of table type of thing that was on top of a platform. She was, in fact, chained up. She looked to left—was that...was that a _scalpel_?

Oh dear God...

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Oh god. Oh Jesus. Oh Holy Spirit. Oh Zeus. Oh Athena. Oh Apollo. Oh Ra. Oh Ma'at. Oh all gods that cared and would hear. Oh—

That thing was coming closer! It was sliver and sharp, shimmering in the light that Kaede couldn't see. The scalpel was its own light. It was closing in on her face! It was coming closer; it was too close. Kaede could even see that there was a design on it, one to identify the doctor it belonged to. She felt her jaw drop as a horror-filled scream readied itself.

That design was a single sakura flower. Her mother's sign.

This couldn't be happening. No, it just couldn't, despite all the facts otherwise. Her mother had just pummeled a guy to death for trying to rape her, cussed out a snakelike creep, and shot kunai in the air just to get the guy away from her. She couldn't be trying to _dissect_ her. No. It was a genjutsu.

Kaede knew with sudden clarity that it _was_, in fact, a genjutsu. She had to get out—she had to find a way to get out of it, to come back to reality before that scalpel cut her eyes out.

Her mother had told her a story once, long ago, about how one of her teammates during the chūnin exams had been put under a genjutsu and was frozen. Thanking back, Kaede had a feeling that that teammate had to have been her father. How did her mother's teammate get out?

He'd cut himself! Pain got him out of the illusion.

But Kaede could t feel anything to do that with. She would use that scalpel coming at her, but she knew it had to be _real_ pain, not illusion pain. She had to have _something_ on her; when she'd been kidnapped she hadn't taken off her gear. There had to be something in her kunai pouch. She just couldn't feel anything strapped to her arm—and that scalpel was way, way too close.

The lights flickered again. She could see her arms, strapped to the table. Her left upper arm had to have her pouch! But she couldn't see it, couldn't feel it. It had to be there.

Kaede tried to reach for it; the straps broke with only the smallest hint of a fight. God how she loved being the child of Uchiha Sakura! If she hadn't inherited her mother's strength, she'd be fighting the straps. Her fingers felt around for a kunai, a senbon, _anything_. She couldn't feel them, but she knew they were there.

So she grabbed at the air, hoping she was holding it right, and made the motion to cut at her arm.

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

She bit her lip to stop herself from screaming and she shut her eyes tight as to not cry (tears came out anyways). She eventually blinked the tears away. She first looked at her now-bleeding arms and put her hand over it to try and stop the bleeding. It hurt. Badly.

Looking around, she saw that she was in the same place as before. Only this time, her mother was on the ground next to her and her dad was gone.

She crawled over to her mother as best as she could while clutching onto her arm like her life depended on it. She removed her hand and took in a sharp intake of breath. Ignoring it, she reached over and shook her mother until she was awake.

**:: ::**

Naruto was trying his hardest to stay awake. It was hard though. They were all so... so quiet. He yawned. A few minutes couldn't hurt anyone, right?

He yawned again and then blinked his eyes closed.

As soon as the soft snores went through the room, Ai—who was lying on the floor next to her empty bowl of ramen—snapped one eye open.

Seeing the sleeping Naruto, she smirked and fought back a snicker.

_Why_ she was going alone with something Akira had come up with, she didn't know. It made her feel like she was doing something bad and she enjoyed that. _Besides_, they weren't hurting anyone.

Rolling over to where her oldest brother was laying, she punched him in the back.

He let out a sharp "Oomf!" making her flip around and make sure Naruto hadn't woken up. He stirred a bit, but he was quite tired and wanted to sleep.

"Are you _sure_ about this?" Jiro asked nervously, looking around.

Akira grinned, sitting up. "This is going to be _awesome_," he whispered back.

**:: ::**

Sakura felt like she had just woken up from a nap. She yawned and stretched and—what a weird dream. She looked sleepily over to Kaede who had woken her and then blinked violently until she felt she could open her eyes wider.

And then she looked around.

Damn it.

This happened to often. Something bad would happen and she'd wake up the next morning, thinking it was all a dream. Like when Sasuke left. But then... Well, she was on a bench.

"Mom," Kaede hissed to get her attention. Sakura looked over at her eldest daughter.

"Hmm?" she asked. Kaede held her arm up. It was bleeding heavily.

Sakura's eyes widened at first (one of the hardest parts of being a medic was dealing with all of the blood—she figured she'd get used to it during the war but that didn't happen) but then she slowly calmed herself and dropped into medic mode, healing her daughter.

It had been a long night.

When she realized that Sasuke wasn't next to her, she sighed inwardly.

The night was only going to get so much longer.


	15. Chapter 16

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Because of course she knew what Sasuke was doing. What kind of wife would she be if she didn't? He could never leave good enough alone—like with training, or strength, or having children. He couldn't simply grab his child back and take her home; that would be too easy.

The ninja in her knew that if Sasuke didn't do what he was going to, this would happen again and again. The ninja in her _knew_ that what Sasuke was doing had to be done. However, the wife in her didn't want him to get hurt. And the mother in her didn't want her daughter to see how merciless her father got when he fought. But of course she would have to help—she would also have to drag her daughter along and make sire she was safe while she did so. Because her husband was borderline insane and if someone didn't stop him, he was going to murder everyone he could get his hands on.

Sighing, she grabbed her shirt—a white baby-doll tee that TenTen had gotten her for her birthday—and ripped the bottom to use it as a bandage. She grabbed her daughter's pale arm—around the red blood, Kaede had skin as pink as her mother's—and as she wrapped it, she said, "Kaede, sweetie, your father and I have to do something. I want you to stay behind me at all times, and if I get into the fight, I want you to protect yourself. I want you to run home and not look back, no matter what happens to us. I want you to take your brothers and sisters and go to Godaime Tsunade and tell her what happened and then I want you to ask her to transfer you to Suna. Ask her to send you with Gaara-sama, okay?"

"But Mom—"

"Kaede, this is _not_ the time to be 'but Mom'-ing me! I am serious!"

Kaede looked at her with wide onyx eyes, fear and understanding written all over her face. "Yes, ma'am," she said, like a ninja receiving a mission. She wanted to tell her that she could _help_, but from the look in Sakura's eye, she knew it wouldn't help.

"Good. Let's go."

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

The two walked carefully down the halls, pressing their backs against the wall to avoid being seen if someone was turning a corner.

Sakura really didn't know where they were going—she didn't sense Sasuke anywhere. She was just walking until she did.

One thing she _was_ painfully aware of was that she really wanted shoes. Her feet were blistering and it _hurt_ and it was all Sasuke's fault.

Kaede was walking close to her, breathing as slow as she could while internally freaking out just a little bit. Where was her dad? Were her brothers and sisters all okay? She even began wondering about her aunt and cousin who she hadn't seen in the longest time. Over night (over the long, long night), it felt like she had become so much more... _aware_, in a way.

And yet she still felt like she was missing something, some key piece of information that she really _should have_ gotten.

And seriously, where was her dad?

**:: ::**

Sasuke stared at the various bodies surrounding him in mock-sadness. It was _their_ fault for attacking him. He was _busy_ and he had something he had to do.

He scoffed, as one of them twitched his hand, not completely dead. He briefly contemplated pulling out a kunai and killing him, but what was the point? He'd already cut off the man's leg.

He glanced at the other five he'd killed and inwardly rolled his eyes.

Idiots.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he told himself that he should quit while he's ahead, that he was going to sink further than before.

Then he thought of his daughter. Alone and scared (_just like he was_) with her eyes glowing red and she didn't even know _why_. He growled lowly with a renewed impetus.

It was much easier to fight for someone who was alive than someone who was dead.

And Sasuke _did_ love revenge.

He swept his eyes over the dead bodies again (the one that had twitched had bled out by now) and smirked.

**:: ::**

When Naruto woke up, he blinked a few times and _attempted_ to yawn. His eyes widened. Was that... was that DUCT TAPE?

Oh God.

Had a few kids, the oldest being _twelve_, got the best of him? He squirmed around, finding himself tied up. Even freeing himself, he inwardly smirked (because his lips wouldn't move. At all). _A few kids think they can beat me... Heh... I'm expert ninja Naruto Uzumaki. I'm going to be HOKAGE._ He then proceeded to rip the tape off his mouth and scream in pain.

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Sakura turned a corner, lifting a finger behind her to pause her daughter. She had killed, captured, and kidnapped by the time she was at Kaede's ninja-level; but that was the time of war and chūnin were lifted to jōnin and jōnin to ANBU. In the time and age they were now, chūnin weren't supposed to see this. This was painful, horrible, heart wrenching, and jaw dropping. _This_ was Sasuke's doing.

Pools of blood were scattered around the room; they trickled together to make rivers that flowed aimlessly everywhere. Bodies, pale and unmoving, were spread out. Resistance was everywhere in their expression, their muscles tightened to show the beginnings of an attack. That was their mistake right there. If they had just _left him the hell alone_, they'd still be living. This was ninja-schooling to perfection—kill all those who resist unless it jeopardizes the mission. This was both horrible and awe striking. To a cold, unfeeling ninja such as Sasuke, this was nothing but a needed casualty; to an all-caring, heartfelt ninja such as Sakura, this was painful and horrible to see.

Corpses and half-mauled bodies lined like velvet ropes around a red carpet.

Sakura's jaw dropped and a stuttered, half-cut off gasp escaped her. It took a few seconds for the rosette to finally regain herself. If it had been someone else who had done this—and not _her Sasuke-kun_—she would have recovered faster.

Sweet Jesus… So many, many corpses.

"Mom?" Kaede whispered from behind the corner. She knew better than to talk, even whisper, but she was worried about her mother.

Sakura swallowed; it was a loud and scared gulp. She carefully walked to her daughter, ignoring any pretense of being silent—anyone who would catch them was dead and decorating to floor like a purple violet in mist of yellow daffodils. She was biting on her full lips as she said, "Kaede, do you or do you not remember the first lesson of the Academy?"

"What does this—?"

"_Kaede_," Sakura enunciated slowly, glaring pointed at her daughter, "_do you_ or _do you not_ remember Lesson One?"

Kaede blinked her dark onyx eyes emptily at her pink-haired mother. "Yes," she said slowly, watching her mother carefully. She'd never seen her this _frantic_. Even a few hours—minutes? seconds? days?—ago when that man tried to rape her, Sakura had only been angry. Kaede had no doubt that her mother has been frantic before, but there was something in the older woman's eyes that scared her. "The one about killing enemy ninja."

Sakura nodded, pulling her hands off of her daughter's shoulders. "Your father followed that rule to the fullest extent every minute of his life. When you turn that corner," she announced, flicking a frantic thumb at over her shoulder, "you'll learn what it really meant. I want you to be professional—I want you to hold off your feelings until this is all over, like they show you in the Academy."

"Sure," Kaede said carelessly. She has no idea how horrible the scene that awaited her was.

**:: ::**

Sasuke snorted. He had only kunai in at his disposal, but he could do enough damage with the small knives. The ones that he did have were dull and rusted, useful only for throwing repeatedly. He had one short tantō stolen from a useless and easily rid-of ninja. If there was one thing he would _ever, ever_ thank Orochimaru for, it would be his passing down all his techniques and strength—and he would never admit it. He hadn't had to use the tantō yet.

Sasuke walked forward, anger and spite fueling his step. There had been no sight of that reached snake; he had just come, basked in his own stolen glory, cast a jutsu on Kaede, knocked Sakura out, and ran. Orochimaru was stupid to believe that Sakura—once Haruno, now _Uchiha_ Sakura—wouldn't wake up to seek revenge. Sasuke had hoped that he had already wreaked hell by the time either of them woke. He hoped that Kaede had just been put under a mild jutsu, but Kaede was a strong girl. She could handle whatever came her way; she had the Sharingan on her side. Sakura would be asleep.

That had been the original plan.

But it had already been more then half an hour.

Now the plan was to murder the goddamned so-called snake sannin and make sure be could never come back to life while hiding his charka as to not get tracked by his wife in order to keep her and their eldest child safe.

**:: ::**

Jiro sighed. "Akira, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, we could get in some serious trouble. You _know_ how Mom is when we disobey her. And you know Dad always butts out when Mom gets angry!" His wide onyx eyes blinked worriedly as he scanned the dirt streets.

The sun was bright and glistening, casting dull shadows around the plains. Green tuffs of grass grew in long patches where shade was cast and brown blades where shadows weren't. Florescent lights lit the inside of stores; the sound of an early-morning baseball game drifted outside a bar; laughter echoed throughout the streets; slacking-off cops joked with their friends.

Was that—?

Before Jiro could finish the thought, Ai had shouted in her most needy voice, "Kuku-kun!" The girl's short, choppy pink hair bounced behind her as she ran to her cousin. She only reached the beginning of where his hip and leg met; she hugged that, digging her face into her cousin's pant leg.

Blinking confusedly, the longhaired cop glanced down at the girl gripping his leg. "_Oh_," he breathed when he saw his cousin. His onyx eyes, doused with the brown specks of his mother's eyes, looked relieved. He pulled his cousin up to his hip. She dug her head into her cousin's chest. "What's wrong, Ai?"

Jiro walked over alongside Akira.

"Kaede and Mommy and Daddy are missing and Akira made us leave when we were supposed to be with Uncle Naruto and…and…and _I just want Mommy_!"

**:: ::**

Naruto whimpered again as he untied his hands, which were bound behind his back. They were crafty, those kids—he'd give them that, if only that. As he unknotted the rope, the blonde couldn't help but think that genin were held to much lower status than they were when he was one.

Once his hands were freed, he made quick work of his legs and ran out the door.

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Fugaku Uchiha (the Second) wasn't sure what to say as he watched his little cousin cry into his pant leg. _...Sasuke and Sakura? Gone?_

He sputtered out some nonsense before crouching down to eye-level with the little girl. "Ai, do you know where your parents are?" he asked, putting his hand on his shoulder, comfortingly.

She shook her head. Akira and Jiro stood still next to each other. They had come to get their cousin's help... And they didn't even know where to look.

As Fugaku continued to try and calm down Ai, Jiro got lost in thought. Did Kuku _know_ about what had happened between their fathers? Did he know that the reason he didn't have a father was because Kaede, Jiro, Akira, Ai, and Sakurako did?

Maybe it was a mistake to come here.

"Maybe I should take you guys back to Naruto-san," Fugaku said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He couldn't deal with kids, even if they were his young cousins.

Akira scoffed. "Then what was the point in coming here?" he muttered.

"We came here because we need you to help us," Jiro said, inwardly rolling his eyes at his brother's comment.

"I... I can't help if I don't know the situation," he replied. "I'll take you guys back to Naruto-san and I'll do what I can—maybe he can fill me in on details that you guys can't. Okay?"

Jiro paused for a moment and then nodded, satisfied.

**:: ::**

Naruto swore that if their sister/parents weren't in trouble right now, he would kill those little kids.

If only Natsuko wasn't fond of them... He sighed outwardly as he jumped through more trees. Where could they be? He eventually stopped, figuring it out.

They were with their cousin, weren't they?

Whose house was in the other direction. He groaned and turned around.

He hoped and prayed that they were there because otherwise... They might have gone after Kaede.

**:: ::**

Kaede stomach knotted as she turned the corner. _Oh God..._ She took in a sharp intake of breath and closed her eyes to try and make it go away.

This was _not_ her father.

It wasn't him, it couldn't be.

He wasn't... He wasn't a ninja, damn it! She wasn't going to accept that she'd been lied to her whole life by a person she trusted more that anything!

He was her daddy. And he wouldn't do something like this.

This was _not_ her father.

This was _not_ her father.

She almost started crying. There was a fine-line between ninja and cold-blooded murderer and she was afraid that he had crossed it.

**:: ::**

Sasuke leaned down next to the enemy that had just fallen.

Tsukuyomi and a quick flick of a kunai against someone's neck did wonders. This one had a sword. A very nice katana that was similar in size to his Kusanagi.

It was more than likely Suigetsu's fault, but he quite liked swords.

...He was taking it.

He grabbed it off the corpse and mutter a mocking, "Thanks," as if it was an inside joke between the two of them.

After a brief inspection of the blade (it was still sharp since the other man hadn't been able to use it), he smirked lightly and walked away.

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Kuku stared at the path to his uncle's house, taking in deep breaths and letting them out gust by gust. He knew very well that Ai was too be to be carried around like a baby. But he also _didn't_ know just how much his cousins found out. Child-savvy or not—and he most defiantly _was not_—he knew that, should the positions be reversed and he were the little child alone, scared, and confused, he would want someone to hold him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. Because he was just sensitive like that. Don't get him wrong, he was a very manly man; but he knew that if he _hadn't_ grown up with the knowledge that his father had been brutally murdered by his semi-insane uncle, his reaction would be the same as all of his cousins'. _He_ would go looking for comfort in the same way these three had—by looking for the closest relative they had.

So he babied his little cousins, asking Akira—who seemed to have responsibly, and uncharacteristically, taken the role of a levelheaded leader—questions that he _thought_ were safe and _thought_ wouldn't send them over the edge and into sniveling heaps of sad children. But with every snivel from Jiro and every comfort-searching snuggle from Ai, he grew just a bit more worried.

Most of all he worried for Akira. Strong-looking, criminal-mastermind Akira—he had to feel the blow of all of this too. Akira was, as his father would do, pushing off his feelings for a more convenient time, like, say, when he wasn't the man of the family while his father was away. _That_ was the role he had taken, Fugaku realized. It wasn't the role of levelheaded group-leader; it was the role that Kuku himself had taken at a young age.

The late Uchiha Itachi's son chewed on the inside of his lip—genetics really did pass down some crazy things, didn't it?—for a second before reaching out to his cousin, ruffling Akira's hair with the biggest fake grin he could plaster on his face, and said, "It'll all be alright. Trust me on that, okay? Sasuke and Sakura _always_ make it out in one piece."

Akira snorted as if his parents' safety hadn't been on his mind _at all_. "Duh," he said, rolling his green eyes for good effect. "My mother is the Hokage's protégé—_of course_ she'll be fine. She's strong enough to protect Dad. Kaede'll be _fine_ in Mom's hands." He didn't let the new insight on his father change his point of view. He was trying _very_ hard not to think about it. "What I'm worried about though," he continued, "is my sister's innocent, innocent eyes. I remember you told me how they'd have victory sex for simply winning a blackjack game."

Kuku had a hard time not slapping his cousin's head. He had to bit his lip, close his eyes, and pinch the bridge of his nose to keep himself from doing so. "Yes, of course that's what you'd be worried about," the eldest of the four sighed. "You are a wonderful sibling. Truly."

"Yeah, he's the greatest," Jiro said in one of his rare—_rare_—sarcastic moments. He was honestly running out of patients—_him_! He had agreed to this crazy plan to go save their sister themselves and now he just wanted it on with. He was tiered of being the second oldest, dang it! He wanted to have his sister back and his mother and father and just have it all go back to before this crazy mess. Jiro _knew_ that this wasn't only affecting _his_ family. There were the three Uzumakis—Uncle Naruto was, crazily enough, their godparent; Aunt Hinata was already with a child, she couldn't handle too much stress; and Natsuko was...well, _Natsuko_—and the Hyūgas—Neji-san who was, hate it as he might, one of the Uchiha's best friends; TenTen-san, who was very close to his mother; and Toyo-...Toyo who was Kaede's boyfriend...

Toyo who was like their brother. Toyo who loved Kaede beyond even a seven-year-old's vast imagination and logic. Toyo who would seek revenge like the overprotective boy he was. Toyo who should know.

Jiro took a deep breath, staring at the scenery before him yet not seeing any of it; his gaze was much wiser than any child had a right to, but that was the way with Uchiha children was it not? "Who wants to tell Toyo-san?"

Akira stared at him, wary understanding etched in his features. Fugaku closed his eyes in thought, rubbing his nose. Ai looked at her older brothers with a face so much like their mother's; her eyes volunteered for her, she didn't have to say a word.

**:: ::**

"Oh my..." Kaede didn't bother finishing the prayer and instead swallowed another gasp. Where had Daddy gone? Where was the Daddy that held her through nightmares, rolled his eyes at her guy problems, and kissed her booboos? _This_ was not his mark—this was _not her Daddy_.

Sakura nodded solemnly, taking deep breaths. Then she said, "_This_ is why we _have_ to find your father, soon," without bothering for silence because, honestly, where was the point? She took another calculating look around. "This is simply the job of a ninja," the rosette continued, emotion drained from her face. But her voice still held the tone of regret. "These all attacked him first." She could tell by the way they'd been mangled. All before finishing an attack, without enough strain in their dead eyes for them to have actually been in a fight. "'Attack those who jeopardize the mission, should they attach first,'" she quoted. "This is simply how he was taught to do it, Kaede, sweetie. But if this continues..." Sakura's throat knotted in on itself. She took a through swallow and tried again. "If this continues, well...the Cursed Seal of Heaven _will_ react."

The Cursed Seal of...

"Does that mean—?"

"Yes," Sakura sighed, "Sasuke-kun _is_ the young ninja that left his village for power."

The lethal and slender woman managed her way through the bodies, expecting her daughter to follow.

And follow she did, through thoughts muddled and scared—both of and _for_ her father.

**:: ::**

Naruto stormed his way through the village, towards the easternmost parts of Konoha, glaring and cussing at everything and anything to even _glance_ at him wrong. It was official: Once he became Hokage, there was going to be a No-Uchiha-Children-Within-Twenty-Miles-of-Konoha rule. Hell, it might just be a No-Children-Within-Twenty-Miles-of-Konoha rule, period. Those brats had ruined children for him.

He remembered when he was young and foolish—he had been around nineteen and couldn't _wait_ to remake the Uzumaki clan. How much of an idiot could he have been? _Seriously_.

_Oh_, those children were going to feel the goddamned _wrath_ of Uzumaki Naruto!

And, as luck would have it, his wrath didn't have to wait much.

**:: ::**

Sasuke cackled softly to himself. He was just _barely_ keeping his charka down low enough for his wife not to sense him. He could feel theirs, and it was close.

But that wasn't why he was cackling.

He was cackling because here he was—armed with bloody kunai, a sharp kantana that he had dubbed Chidorinkā for Blood Drinker, and a fury to send even Satan cowering in fear—and his target was standing right before him, looking as shocked if lightening had just hit him that he had been found.

"Welcome to Hell," Sasuke murmured, unsheathing Chidorinkā. "No, correction. Hell is a mercy compared to what I'm going to do with you." Another cackle escaped him; it sent the Seal spinning. "I'm going to make you regret coming back to life."


	16. Chapter 17

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Naruto sputtered out nonsense and waved his hands angrily to try and show that he was _angry_. As Ai starting laughing though, he realized it totally wasn't working. At all.

Naruto stopped moving and putting random syllables together. He placed his left hand on his waist (in a very manly way because he _was_, after all, Naruto Uzumaki.) and brought his right hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose much like he'd seen Iruka do on several occasions to lessen a headache—it didn't work.

"Why did you guys leave?" he yelled. His voice was already naturally loud; his yell was _booming_ and he hoped and prayed that in instilled fear into the hearts of the children. And maybe even Gaara, who could probably hear it from the Kage tower in Suna.

Ai stopped laughing. Ha. So it had worked.

Then Akira _started_ laughing. Little brat. He was probably really totally freaked out and everything. Loser. Naruto angrily stuck his tongue out at the twelve-year old.

Fugaku laughed awkwardly and sat Ai down on the ground.

"Hello Naruto-san," he greeted politely. He had only met the blond two or three times but he had never seen him so... so... frustrated? Yeah. Frustrated.

Naruto straightened up and laughed, embarrassed. Then, putting on a cool face, he said, "'Sup?"

An awkward silence followed.

**:: ::**

The base was cold and Kaede desperately wished that she was in her bed, asleep. What time was it? Was it morning already?

She was so, so very tired. It was the fear of knowing all the things that could happen if she fell asleep that had kept her awake before—now, she was completely prepared to pass out on the cold stone floor and not wake up until she had her recommended eight hours of sleep.

She wished they knew where her father _was_. Maybe then this would go faster but she couldn't sense his presence anywhere.

But was it maybe because before it had always been so calming and now, according to her mother, he was on the verge of a psychological breakdown? ...Yeah, she was going to go with that.

she was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a voice. It wasn't her father's, nor was it one that sounded all that familiar but it was... comforting in a way. As if it was someone she had known her entire life.

They were singing some song off of the Top 40 list. She inwardly sighed. _So comforting_, she thought sarcastically. _Singing about sex and drugs..._.

"_Sing along Jūgo_!" the voice called.

"_...No_," another voice, deeper that the first, answered back.

The first voice made random sounds before finally being able to form a coherent sentence. "_But, we're already trapped in here! Why not make the best of it?_"

"_No_."

"_You're an idiot, shut up. Let's at least try to think of a way out of this? And you're being loud—someone's right outside,_ " it was a girl this time, who probably didn't realize that she was being just as loud, if not louder.

Kaede blinked. Was there someone in the wall? Sakura had heard it too and was facing the direction it was coming from. The older woman paused for a second. Well... Sasuke had taken care of anyone who could attack them...

The wall exploded into thousands of pieces from the force of her punch, revealing the ex-members of Team Taka.

They all looked over and blinked.

"Oh, hi Sakura," the white-haired male (the first voice) began, staring at her. Sakura glared at him. Suigetsu hadn't aged a day—none of them really had from the looks of it. Karin was dressing a bit more refined though.

Kaede blinked. "Jūgo, Suigetsu, and Karin," she said, motioning towards each one of them. "Your father's old... team."

Karin blinked. "Is Sasuke doing something stupid again?"

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

"So…," Kuku dragged out. He had never been very comfortable with silences of the awkward kind. Staring pointedly at Akira, he said, "I take it they left without your knowledge?"

Naruto nodded, glaring at the oldest of the three. "Brats," he muttered.

Akira stuck his tongue out at his so-called uncle, glaring a green-eyed Uchiha glare. "Mom and Dad aren't back yet!" he growled in his defense. "We _have_ to help them."

"Listen here, you Uchiha _brat_," Naruto growled in a perfect imitation of his best friend's voice. With his naturally loud voice, people were looking over at the makeshift family with curious eyes. "You're parents are highly-trained ninja. They've survived _suicide_ missions. They can handle a kidnapper. You, however, are frankly _not_. Your only job is to keep yourselves the hell safe!"

No one had ever seen happy-go-lucky Uzumaki Naruto so _angry_ and _frustrated_. They were all afraid of what had happened to make the blonde so angry.

"Naru—!"

Cutting into the fight, Ai suddenly asked, "Did you leave Sakurako alone?"

Naruto bit his lip. "Crap," he muttered, which seemed to be his cuss word of choice. "Kuku," he said, ignoring formalities completely as he was Naruto, "bring them to the house please. I'll be there."

And with that, Naruto stormed off in a cloud of dirt and dust.

**:: ::**

"Not stupid so much as crazy," Sakura answered.

Suigetsu nodded, peering behind his ex-teammate's wife. He seemed so unconcerned. It helped calm Kaede. "And who's that little cutie?" he asked flirtatiously, earning a glare from his own wife.

Sakura scowls. "That's your goddaughter," she answered. While Naruto and Hinata were the godparents of _all_ her kids, so were Karin and Suigetsu. "Hands off."

"Kaede?" Suigetsu wondered, squinting at the slim and well-built girl.

"Baby girl!" Karin shouted, running up to squeeze the girl.

Before she could though, Sakura asked, "Karin can you track Sasuke?"

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

The redhead scoffed. "Of _course_ I can, Sakura-dearest," she replied, feigning hurt.

"She's like a walking GPS," Suigetsu said, dryly. "A GPS that can't be trusted."

"I will hit you."

"I know you will."

And thus started an argument, as always. Suigetsu was _always_ trying to set Karin off for no reason whatsoever and it was stupid and childish. But, it happened and once it happened, Karin would hit him. He would then turn in a puddle.

So, that's where they were now, surrounded by a puddle of Suigetsu.

Karin scoffed and hissed out, "Idiot."

Kaede watched on, confused. Sakura face-palmed and then cleared her throat. "Karin," she barked, getting the other woman's attention. "Sasuke?" she reminded.

"Oh, yeah, right," was the reply before she made the appropriate hand sign and looked for any sign of the charka she was so incredibly familiar with.

Kaede looked on in amazement. What was she _doing_?

"He's in the west wing," Karin voiced. "Lord Orochimaru is with him."

Nobody said anything. It was Jūgo who uncharacteristically voiced what was on everyone's mind. "Well, shit."

**:: ::**

"...Kiba, why are you in Sasuke and Sakura's house?" Naruto asked blankly, staring at the Inuzuka before him.

"Hm? Oh, the baby was crying," he replied, turning to face the blond. In his arms was a sleeping Sakurako. Akamaru was lying in a corner, sleeping.

Naruto blinked. "You... got her to be quiet?"

"You say it like it's surprising."

"...It is."

Kiba opened his mouth to reply with the door swung open and Fugaku walked in, grinning uncomfortably. "We're here!" he said as if it was shocking and something that no one had realized.

The kids all pushed him out of the doorway and angrily stomped over to the couch before sitting down and crossing their arms, refusing to look at anyone.

Fugaku stumbled slightly before regaining his balance. He walked over to where Kiba and Naruto were standing. He leaned towards Naruto and blocked his mouth with his palm, "They're upset," he whispered.

"I noticed," Naruto replied, dryly. Sighing, he looked over at Kiba who was gently rocking Sakurako back and forth. "Kiba, hand me the baby and leave." The Inuzuka complied begrudgingly.

As soon as the youngest Uchiha was placed in Naruto's arms, she woke up and started shrieking again. He quickly handed her back to Kiba and she almost immediately calmed down and closed her eyes.

"Never mind. Kiba, you're officially a baby sitter."

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

"So…" Akira muttered, green eyes narrowed and hateful glare screwed on tight, "Kiba's a dog."

Jiro looked over at his brother as if he were completely nuts. "Whatever do you mean?" he asked. The miniature Sasuke made himself comfortable on the floor in front of his father's thick file. He was going to take his sweet time in reading it, never mind if it took him half of his budding life.

"That's why Sakurako loves him so much," the eldest male Uchiha answered, lifting his knee to scratch it. "She likes dogs."

Jiro rolled his onyx eyes. "You say that only because you asked out his daughter and she said no."

Akira harrumphed and glared.

"Dumby," Ai muttered. "She likes him because he was playing with Dad's cologne."

"Hey!" Kiba shouted, as if insulted. But he smelled like the cologne Ai had given her father for Father's Day.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Fugaku stared at each other.

"How much do they know?" Kuku wondered in a subdued voice. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the three giggle and harrumph, but underneath it, he knew they were traumatized.

Naruto didn't know enough to answer that question.

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Orochimaru smirked, ignoring the threatening stance Sasuke had taken on and ignoring the fact that he could easily kill him again.

"How nice to see you Sasuke-kun," he said, grinning maliciously. "My, you sure have grown since I first recruited you to me my new vessel, ne?" Sasuke glared at him and didn't move. "I must say," he continued, pacing back and forth. "I'm rather surprised you didn't come looking for me earlier. You see Sasuke, the reason the Cursed Seal of Heaven reappeared is because of my resurrection."

"Shut up," Sasuke replied. He wasn't in the mood to hear this.

Orochimaru cocked an eyebrow and didn't lose he smirk. "Oh? I figured you would be the kind of person that would allow a few 'final words'." The way he said final words made it seem like he didn't believe it. "Do you not remember your brother's?"

"_Shut up_," he repeated, nearly seething. The black, flame-like pattern began creeping from the seal. It quickly receded though. _I can keep control_, Sasuke told himself, his grip tightening on the sword.

"Sorry Sasuke," Orochimaru said mockingly, grinning widely. "_This is it_."

And then he snapped.

**:: ::**

Karin stopped abruptly, her eyes widening. Jūgo quickly stopped himself to avoid running into her. Suigetsu wasn't lucky enough to have noticed and ran into Jūgo, emitting a loud "Oomph!"

Sakura stepped around them and went to Karin. "What's wrong?" she demanded.

"I thought... I thought the Cursed Seal was gone...," she said, quietly.

Sakura opened her mouth to explain it but she wasn't all that sure how to.

"It just... It just came back," she explained quietly, looking down slightly and thinking about that day. "A few years ago," she said. "We need to stop him, before he gets a little too... out of hand."

"Bat-shit crazy?" Suigetsu asked, raising an eyebrow.

The pink-haired woman took a deep breath and nodded once. "Bat-shit crazy," she confirmed.

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Kaede had no idea what "bat-shit crazy" meant, but she sure as hell didn't want to find out. She was afraid of what the Cursed Seal was, too. She had heard about it in some recent-history class. Or was it a forbidden jutsu class? She honestly couldn't remember. It might have been both. And if it had been both, then why the hell did her father have it? Was he in some kind of danger? If her father could—she thought back to the bloody, beaten, broken bodies—do _that_, what would he do with something as…evil sounding as a Cursed Seal?

The eldest Uchiha child didn't have time to say anything to have her suspicions confirmed. But just because she didn't ask doesn't mean she wasn't answered. Her mother's green eyes were wide and watery, her movements awkward and desperate, or if not robotically. Even as she spoke, Sakura came out sounding cold and efficient, yet somehow scared at the same time. "We have to hurry," Sakura said in her cold voice. "We have to find him now. _Now_."

"I know, Sakura-chan, but—"

Sakura wasn't in the mood for rationality. "I said _now_, Karin! _Now!_ My Sasuke-kun is out there—in here—fighting a snake I'm not sure can be killed, but can sure as hell _kill_. And that damned snake took my _daughter_, _my daughter_! Sasuke's always been vengeful, but now, now that his family's been threatened?" The rosette stopped for a second, just letting them realize what was happening. Sasuke had always been the protective-type after Itachi murdered his family. Sakura knew he wasn't going to let that happen ever again. And she knew what he was willing to risk in order to protect his family. "I don't care if they're in an all-out war, you _need_ to tell me where he is!"

Karin just watched her long-lost friend, frowning thoughtfully. Then she nodded, motioning them to follow without a second thought.

**:: ::**

Sasuke's skin was brown. Brown like dust or dirt. Brown like the debris of fallen villages. He felt like stone. Hard, cold stone without a mind or conscious. His eyes were a dark black, highlighted by the red of his Sharingan. Stone-like wings sprouted from his back. He knew a black cross adorned his nose and cheeks.

Power flowed through him; a power he thought he'd never feel again. A power he _hadn't wanted_ to feel again. Within that power rested ruthlessness, and he never wanted to be that again, not ever.

But, hate it as he did, Sasuke knew his body, knew his mind—and he _knew_ he enjoyed that power.

That didn't mean he wanted it. But it was there, burning inside of him, begging to come out. So he let it out, reminding himself what that snake had done to his daughter—_his daughter_.

Because so long as he had this power, he wasn't going to waste it. He knew he was going to put it to good use, before he had to say goodbye to it forever, again.

With a hateful, bloodthirsty smirk, he sent the first attack flying through the air in flaming balls.

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Orochimaru dodged with considerable ease—he wasn't one of the three sannin for _nothing_—and laughed.

"Really Sasuke, I can't believe someone with such _little power_—" It's like he was trying to make Sasuke snap more than he already had. "—could kill a ninja as great as Itachi," he said, grinning.

"_Shut up_," Sasuke said again, staring straight at the other with his mangekyou. Of course, after being in the Akatsuki with Itachi, Orochimaru had learned that you never look an Uchiha in the eye.

"Oh wait," Orochimaru continued, ignoring him. "That was a fluke, wasn't it? You couldn't even beat your sick and dying older brother."

Sasuke was trying—trying as hard as he possibly could—not to _completely_ loose control. He needed to end this quickly because he would practically _feel_ those last precious drops of sanity seep out of him.

Trying to calm his breathing, which had become heavy from trying to ignore the intense, insane anger that so desperately wanted to take over him.

Eventually, he had calmed down and even the Cursed Seal receded. He stared at the snake demon in front of him with apathy before forming the hand seals. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu," he said in monotone before a large ball of fire shot from his mouth and directly at Orochimaru.

**:: ::**

The kids were all legitimately asleep now.

Kiba and Naruto had told them stories about all the times Sasuke had kicked ass and how he could totally handle whatever the hell was going on and return home with their mother and sister, safe and sound.

They did, of course, leave out some battles—like Haku, Itachi (for Fugaku's sake since he was in the room), and the fight he had with Naruto before he was carried back to Konoha on Sakura's shoulder.

Jiro was especially interested, Akira listened while looking apathetic but he secretly thought it was really cool, Ai was mildly entertained but she wasn't a huge fan of battle stories.

Fugaku listened on intently too, with his mouth hanging slightly open and his eyes widened in aw. He had never realized his uncle was so powerful.

Eventually, the young kids got tired and Fugaku figured it would be slightly awkward for him to continue to sit and listen to stories so all four of them fell asleep on the floor of the living room.

Naruto sighed and looked at the three kids and one grown man sleeping on the floor. He really hoped Sasuke and Sakura would return soon.


	17. Chapter 18

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

That look in his eye was back; it was the same one he used to look at Team Seven with, on their first "reunion." That look that said that he wanted to get out—badly—but he was about to fall off the deep end. Sasuke knew that look well; it'd been the one he wore for more than half his life. He knew Sakura knew it too. He knew she could see it when he turned his head—a reaction to hearing the click of shoes on concrete—to look at her; he knew she could recognize it by the way her green eyes widened in fear. He knew she was afraid, both of and for him.

He knew it. He just couldn't stop. He wanted to—truly he did—but when he tried, instead of the word stop, out came the name of another fire-based attack, then snake-based. Part of him was screaming for help; part of him knew that he was going too far, that his daughter was watching with worried wide eyes. But that wasn't the part that was in control right now.

Sakura knew that. Her green eyes were wide and worried as she shouted, "Sasuke!" with enough force to brake down buildings. Tears were in her eyes. She'd never thought she'd have to see that helpless, scared, half-crazy look again. She wanted to look away because that look brought back so many horrible memories—his fingers on her neck, ready to squeeze; his sword touching the side of her throat, cold and sharp; his hands hard on her waist when before Naruto'd gotten him back, holding to his side and confessing that he wanted to die, that he was going to kill Naruto and make her watch—but she couldn't. He needed help.

That was what she thought as her legs broke to a sprint, dragging her to Sasuke's warm, Curse-Seal-of-Heaven-battered form. Like the first time his curse had sprouted, her arms wrapped wound him from behind, reminding him that he wasn't alone. And even though it was stupid and useless, Sakura felt better once she had him in her arms, his tensed and angry muscles relaxing. "Sasuke-kun," she whispered into his shoulder, nuzzling closer, forgetting that there was a revived sanin who wanted their daughter for just a second.

"How touching," Orochimaru snorted. "Sasuke-kun, didn't I teach you better than to get distracted during a fight?" he chided. "No wonder you couldn't even take your beaten and bloodied brother." Then, without a second thought, he made the signs of Wind Relief: Breakthrough, slamming them—Sasuke, Sakura, Kaede, Suigetsu, Karin, and even the mighty Jūgo—to the ground.

**:: ::**

How long had it been? Five hours. Why hadn't they come back yet? No clue.

Those are the questions, in exact order, that the Uchiha children had asked when they woke from their nap. With a frustrated growl, Akira threw the sofa pillow to the ground and crossed his arms. "Why the _fuck_ can't we just go after them!" he half-asked, half-shouted, and half-ordered. "It is _so_ irritating to not be able to do _anything_! We're ninja, for the love of Kami!"

Naruto, of course, agreed, but he couldn't say as well. He had been told to watch Sakura's babies—not to let them run amuck while they were gone or to let them come them after their parents. Running a hand through his golden hair, Naruto sighed, "Your mother would have my head."

That is, if someone didn't already has hers. The thought washed over all six of them at them same time, freezing them in liquid nitrogen. It was silent for a moment before Ai swallowed her pain and reprimanded Akira for his choice of words.

"I am _so_ bored!" Akira shouted instead of letting himself be bothered that a girl of six just chided him. Instead of admitting he was worried.

Jiro, curled over one of his own pillows, scowled. "You want something to do?" he asked, annoyed and upset. The fact that half of their family had disappeared had them all snippy. "Go tell Toyo that his girlfriend's been kidnapped by kami knows who."

That's when the doorbell rang. All of them—even Kiba—jumped up, expecting the three other Uchiha. Ai ran to the door, ready to attack her parents with a hug, and opened it. Who else would sand there but the brown-eyed Hyūga protégé himself?

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Toyo blinked and raised an eyebrow at the young girl. She had opened the door with a wide smile on her face and it seemed that as soon as she sa⁷ him, it faltered.

"Hello Ai-chan," he said, respectfully. "Is Kaede home?"

In the other room, Jiro nudged Akira. "Well, there's your chance." Akira looked around awkwardly.

"You've always been better with words than me, Nē-san," Akira replied, using " Nē-san " rather than his brother's name to show just how much he _did not_ want to tell Toyo.

Jiro opened his mouth to reply when Ai led the Hyūga into the living room.

The older boy raised an eyebrow, "What exactly did I miss?"

**:: ::**

Sakura hit the ground with Sasuke's full weight on top of her. She supposed she was lucky that he was actually quite scrawny and _almost_ underweight for his height.

The natural-born Uchiha coughed before standing up, shakily. He seethed as he picked up the sword that had fallen out of his grasp.

The fact that he hadn't looked around to see if everyone was okay let her know one thing: He was _gone_. This was further proven by the shaky laugh that escaped his lips, dripping with insanity.

"Sasuke," she said weakly, picking herself up off the ground and reaching out to him.

He ignored her and tightened his grip on the katana, slowly approaching Orochimaru with the slightest limp.

"Daddy," Kaede said softly—not nearly loud enough for him to hear her—, hold back a sob. She was tired. She was hungry. She wanted to go home. She wanted this all to be a dream. She wanted to wake up tomorrow (late, as per usual) and go downstairs to wear the rest of her family was about to have breakfast. Her brothers and sister would be arguing and Sakurako would be in her high chair, giggling, her mother and _non-ninja_ father would be making breakfast (because Lord knows Sakura shouldn't be allowed near kitchen utensils by herself), and her only worry would be whether Natsuko would tag along with her and Toyo rather than it just be the two of them.

Beside her, Karin sat up and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, angrily. "After everything I did for that snake bastard...," she muttered, trailing off. Looking over at Suigetsu and Jūgo, she barked out, "Well, are you two idiots just going to sit there or are you going to go help?"

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Wha... Oh. Oh! You mean Sauce-man, The Sauce—I got you," he said before standing up and rolling back his shoulders to get the kinks out of his neck.

Jūgo face-palmed lightly before also standing up.

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Kaede's eyes were red again; they felt as if they were bleeding fire. It was horrible, like that one time she'd woken after watching a scary movie that her mother had told her _not_ to watch and she'd woken with ghoulish nightmares. She wanted to do what she'd done then—call for Daddy, let him hold her and protect her, and then in the morning hug him in thank-you and pretend nothing ever happened—but she couldn't. All she could do was watch as her father's muscles—far too large for any citizen, which once again had her kicking herself for not noticing sooner—clouded with dark charka. It wasn't the charka she'd seen just seconds ago, controlled and practiced; no it was out of controlled and hateful, with so much power that it wasn't emotionally possible for him to be even remotely in control.

All she could do was cry on the inside, too dead outside to even whisper another word, and watch as the five adults that led her here sprang into action. With jade eyes almost as wild—but more in-control—than her husband's, Sakura raced forward, ignoring the calls of warning from Karin and Suigetsu, opting instead for aiming a punch at the fast-moving snake's chest.

"Sak—"

Karin started on her seventh call of her long-lost friend, but was interrupted by the deep rumbling of a long-silent voice. "She's Sakura," Jūgo said, making them all feel foolish for being stupid enough to worry. Somewhere in them, they felt that no matter how deeply off the edge Sasuke had gone, some part of him would still stop him from hurting—or letting anything hurt—her. But they'd been proven wrong before; something in Kaede told her that the thought was nothing but fact, no matter how little she knew these people. There was a long bout of silence and of Sasuke being thrown across a room and of Sakura trying to distract the sanin before anyone said anything. And when it was broken, it was Jūgo's voice that slid through it like a knife through butter. "Don't just stand there!" he uncharacteristically shouted. He himself was springing into fight-mode.

Suigetsu grabbed his sword from his back. Karin closed her eyes quickly in concentration. Then, as Suigetsu ran full force at the unsuspecting snake-man, Karin turned to her godchild. "_Protect yourself,_" she said sternly.

**:: ::**

Akira ignored the Hyūga. Instead, with bright green eyes, he looked at his brother's onyx ones. Glancing quickly at Ai, he whispered, "Didn't we settle on Ai telling him?"

"Ai won't know how to explain it," Jiro stated logically. He stole a peak at Kiba and Naruto for reassurance. "Do you think—?"

"Yes!" Akira shouted, watching as Toyo's perplexed brown eyes glared suspiciously between the brothers, waiting as silently as only a Hyūga could. "Anything! Just don't make me—"

"Make you what?" Toyo asked monotonously. If you knew him well enough, you could detect the hint of a tease in his voice. But Akira didn't, and neither did Jiro. Kaede did, but she was indisposed; Ai did, but after seeing that Toyo was not their parents or even Kaede, she's raced up the stairs with tears in her eyes, from which Kuku-kun had followed in an attempt to make her happy. "Tell me that Kaede's been kidnapped by some undead force?"

He was about to snort. But didn't. There was an icy silence that told him not to. Neither boy would meet his eyes. Naruto just stared gravely at him. Kiba busied himself with the hem of his shirt.

Toyo stared coldly, unknowing what to expect.

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Eventually, after a very, very awkward silence, Naruto coughed. They all looked over at him as he ran a hand through his hair.

"What happened?" Toyo asked, his eyes narrowing as he crossed his arms, glancing at the different people around the room.

"Kaede's been kidnapped by some undead force—impeccable guessing, really," Akira said, earning a hard punch from Jiro. Even though Akira was the genin, Jiro was the stronger one—he had learned from the best after all.

"_What_?" Toyo hissed out, feeling slightly uncomfortable. And angry and scared and worried and a variety of other emotions.

"What he said," Naruto said, dryly, motioning towards Akira.

The Hyūga opened his mouth, closed it, and then repeated the process. He had _no idea_ what to say.

It was at that moment that Sakurako woke up and started crying.

**:: ::**

Kaede watched the battle unfold, trying to ignore the pain in her eyes. She wanted to close her eyes and keep them closed in hopes that maybe it would ease the burning. She forced herself to keep her eyes open though, to keep watching as her mother got hit with a snake that extended itself from the snake sannin's sleeve and sent her flying backwards.

It wasn't enough to hurt her and it such a small attack that barely anyone even noticed.

Sasuke did though. He noticed it and reacted as if it had happened to him. His eyes widened briefly and he almost ran over to where his pink-haired wife lay on the ground. By the time he made a move to walk over to her, she was already standing.

So instead, he turned on his heel to face Orochimaru. After quickly making the hand signs, Sasuke began running at the snake demon, the blue lightning release charka swirling around his arm. "Chidori!"

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Gigantic crackles of blue lightening blinded Kaede's sight. When she could see again, dark and horrible charka was everywhere. The white-skinned freak looked half charred, as if he couldn't react fast enough and could only make half of his escape. Kaede could only see the back of her father, but she didn't like it. His muscles were tight, his limbs shaking in anger. She could imagine the ferocity of his expression. The simple image had her shaking. She'd seen her dad mad before—over something little, like a failed ninja exam—but this was over the top. This was like…well, like the devil had personally overtaken his body and seeked revenge.

Terror seized both female Uchiha for the brief moment in which Sasuke readied himself, only to be toppled over by the monstrous attack of his ex-sensei. The Binding Snake Glare slithered around Sasuke; the gray-purple snake constricted on him every time he tried to struggle. The white sinews of his body stretched in anger; his onyx eyes twitched back and forth to the Sharingan as he tried yet again for his grip on reality. But it was gone, slipping away by centimeters, then inches, then feet, then meters, and then by miles until he couldn't see it anymore—wasn't sure if he ever could. Was he ever truly sane after he saw what he saw?

Pain suddenly shot up Sasuke's leg and, despite his best efforts, an agonized gasp escaped his lips.

That broke through Sakura's haze. Her willow eyes widened in sudden fear. "_Sasuke-kun_!" she shouted, worry coloring her tone to the very last syllable. "Sasuke," she yelled. Disregarding the fact that there might be snakes attacking her, fire, earth, and a number of other things, the rosette ran into the line of fire. Sakura's hands were digging into the pockets of her denim shorts—her bra—her back pockets—anything to cut through the tightening snakes that almost suffocated her husband. She'd found kunai on the many men she and Sasuke had taken out. Right now, she thanked the world for having take kunai from them as she sliced through the snake-rope, which had gone limp and dead.

Orochimaru was up to something.

Sasuke was loose; the first thing he saw in his semi-sane state was the viridian eyes of his wife. His breathing was erratic. "Sakura?" he asked aloud, as if unsure of something.

A gust of relief rushed out of Sakura's chest. "Yes. Yes, Sasuke, it's me," she told him. Her arms were tight around Sasuke, hugging him as if she might never again. Sasuke clung to her. The sound that broke them out of it was sandals on rocky concrete.

She didn't care that her parents were having a gooie moment, or that her hair was a mess, and her eyes were certainly red—all Kaede cared about was that they were all okay. Tears flowed freely from her reddish eyes; her tin, sinewy arms curled around her parents' necks and their arms covered her in a protection of muscles and warmth. Kaede reviled in that familiar warmth.

"Where's Orochimaru?" Sasuke's deep voice broke the silence. It froze the family's muscles to ice.

**:: ::**

Kiba ran upstairs, dedicated to his babysitting—or maybe he just wanted to run away from the horrible conversation about to unfold. He was right to run; the second his footsteps died into the background, the Fourth Ninja War ensued.

"Where _is_ she?" Toyo inquired again, disbelief decorating his face. "Who _took_ her?"

Naruto shifted his weight awkwardly from foot to foot. "I didn't want to say anything in front of the K-I-D-S—"

"I can spell!" Akira interrupted, only to be ignored.

"—But there's a chance O-R-O…S? C?" Naruto's blonde brows knitted together in confusion. "Screw spelling! Orochimaru"—he hissed, though his whisper wasn't much lower than his regular voice—"might be involved."

Toyo's anger distorted the expression of controlled calm. "He's dead!" he shouted in a whisper; his brown eyes were wide, as if he himself had been there to battle the great Snake Sannin instead of just reading about him in history books.

"Ninja can do that," the policeman that had stayed quiet murmured.

Toyo started twitching. Fury knotted his throat, shrinking his voice box and leaving him wordless. His jaw had dropped and his muscles were locked in place. He couldn't even find his voice to ask the question that burned in his mind. _Why?_


	18. Chapter 19

**:: Author: KillerMay ::**

Kaede let out a pained sigh. _Really_?..._REALLY_? She was tired and hungry and the stinging in her eyes was becoming more and more apparent. At first, she was kind of _terrified_. Now... Now all she wanted to do was get this over with and go home.

As if reading her mind, the redheaded woman from earlier (what was her name again?) spoke up, "Go home," she said plainly. Sasuke looked at her like she was _the_ biggest idiot he had ever seen in his life.

"What?" he hissed, cocking an eyebrow but still maintaining the 'you're a total moron, stop breathing' expression.

"_Go home_," she repeated, slower this time. "We," she motioned towards the tall white-haired man and the taller orange haired man. "Will take care of Orochimaru. Seriously... You guys look like you could use some rest...And seriously, don't you guys have like twenty kids? I bet they're wondering where you are right about now..."

"No, it's fine," Sakura spoke up. "We left Naruto to... take... care... shit." She face-palmed and groaned. "Could've thought that one out better...," she muttered it so you could only barely make out what was even said.

"Are we going home now?" Kaede asked. The stinging in her eyes had disappeared and she somehow new that they had returned to their normal color.

Her mother sighed, "I... I guess so..."

**:: ::**

Toyo felt his throat close up and he couldn't breath and he was _freaking out_. Millions of questions were running through his head at once. Why... How...?

He had heard that sometimes you could tell when someone you love is hurt or okay and he hoped and prayed that him not having some sharp realization that something bad had happened was proof that she was okay. However, he didn't have any voice in his head telling him that she was going to be home tomorrow and act as though nothing had happened (because that was what Kaede did—if something bad occurred, she would brush it off as insignificant).

"She's... She's with Sakura," Naruto said as a way to comfort him. He wasn't that great with comfort though. He was much better with knocking sense into people through violence, yelling, and surprisingly motivational speeches (which happened to be his third career choice, under Hokage and running Ichiraku Ramen). "And Sasuke. If they can't protect her then I don't know anyone who _could_... Except maybe _me_ of course, because I'm pretty fantastic, but they can manage. Plus, if you haven't noticed, she's pretty good at taking care of herself."

Toyo had calmed slightly not but the worry biting at him wouldn't go away. He couldn't bare the thought of losing her. It just... It wasn't right. Thinking of him without her made him want to make cliché similes to describe it—salt without pepper, peanut butter without jelly—the whole nine yards. He couldn't, _wouldn't_ lose her.

But unfortunately, all he could really do was just sit there and wait.

**:: Author: Boriqua-chan ::**

Sasuke, of course, didn't want to go down without a fight. He stood—somehow helping his two girls get up without skipping a beat—and glared his _Are you stupid?_ glare. "You three couldn't stop an ice cream truck from running over a cat if it were going at a mile per hour," he growled. His onyx eyes flashed red for a second as anger tensed him; he got it under control. "I'll do it," he assured.

Sakura's heart sped. The simple idea of Sasuke—her Sasuke, the borderline insane husband that she loved to the ends of the earths and back—terrified her to no end. What if he crossed that spider's-thread-thin line again, as he had today? Who would bring him back then? What would he go after then, if no one was there to drag him back? Who would remind him that the bloodthirsty monster he'd turn into wasn't him? They were answerless questions; she didn't like them.

Sakura gulped. "No, you won't," she said. Her voice was low and horse, but full of familiar authority. "We have four kids at home that are no doubt anxious to see us and Kaede. There's Toyo who's no doubt already been informed that we're gone. And I'll be damned if I leave you alone; and I'll be damned if I let Kaede run home herself. So we're leaving." Sakura latched her small hands to Kaede and Sasuke's. Sasuke's hand was so much bigger than hers; it swallowed her hand whole. Kaede's hand was just about the same size as hers. She squeezed them both. "Now," she announced. A grin—sad but with some honest amusement twinkling through it—crossed her face. "Go get him, Karin."

Karin returned the smile. "Aye-aye, boss," she answered, back ramrod straight and a smile that, if she weren't about to risk her life to kill the only father figure she'd ever had, would be considered playful on her lips. She turned to Suigetsu and Jūgo. "Ready?" They nodded; then, in a puff of smoke, they were gone.

Sakura smoothed out the ruffles in her silken PJ top. It was caked in dirt, but she ignored all the dirtiness and inspected her bare feet. After picking out a rock, she turned her dazzling grin on her husband, who was waiting for his wife to get so into her inspection so he could sneak away. "Don't even think about it," she said, lacing her fingers through his. "Come on, lead the way," she ordered. "You know this place better than any of us."

Kaede's navy blue brows knitted together. "When we get home," she announced, stomping through the concrete floor in her gear, "someone is going to explain this whole night to me! Seriously. Who the hell can keep up with you two?" There was a giggle in her voice, hysterical and relieved. After all this, she was just going home! _Just going home!_ It seemed an unfitting ending to a horrifying tale, but hey—she wasn't complaining! She'd take this ending over possible death any day.

Sasuke chuckled. Sakura laughed. "Don't use that kind of language!" her mother reprimanded, giggling, as Sasuke dragged her behind him to the exit.

**:: ::**

Toyo had his head in the basket his hands created. His thumbs massaged the sides of his eyes, where the headache seemed to originate. A horrid nightmare had formed itself in the recesses of his mind. The image of Kaede, six feet under, a gravestone decorating the ground above her as her beautiful body decomposed. He refused to let tears coat his eyes; tears were weak. TenTen must be worried, he thought dejectedly. He said he'd only be gone for a few seconds—he and Kaede were supposed to have breakfast at his house.

Speaking of which… "Have you eaten yet?" Toyo asked. His voice was soft and worried, trying his hardest to keep his voice whole.

"Mommy left food in the fridge," Ai answered. She'd come down from her room, face stony, voice emotionless. It looked like someone had taken a vacuum and sucked hope from her. She looked sad and dejected, so unlike the normal Ai who looked happy and always ready to help. "You can have some if you want, Toyo-kun."

Toyo shook his head.

Akira frowned. It was such a great time to be thinking about food. His parents and his sitter were missing, his father was a ruthless villain when he was younger, and as if _that_ weren't enough, he wasn't allowed to do anything to help. He should be running to his sensei, explaining his situation, and getting help from his team. But _no_! He was sitting on the biggest sofa in the living room—the one that his mother and father sat on when the cuddled, or got as close to cuddling as his father could get—staring up at the ceiling, unable to do anything. What hell—what a specialized hell for him, and him alone. There was Jiro, too, reading up on the facts of his father—facts they should know by memory because the man in the file was their _father_, for shit's sake—instead of helping. There was Naruto, sitting on the armchair that faced away from the small fireplace, jiggering and jumping in his seat, wanting to do _something_, but not letting his nieces and nephews join. There was Kuku, too, blowing on his coffee—because he didn't like tea—and sighing dejectedly. He was a cop! Wasn't there something he could do? But then again, Akira was a ninja and there wasn't much he could do. Kiba was upstairs, taking care of Sakurako as she fed.

What a wonder it was so be totally _useless_.

**:: ::**

"Who taught you that authority?"

Sakura laughed freely. A weight had been lifted from her shoulders once she crossed Konoha borders. "None other than my husband, Sasuke," she giggled.

"Where is he?" Sasuke asked. His feet padded on the ground softly. One more turned corner and they'd be home.

"Around somewhere, I think," Sakura teased. Her fingers tightened around Kaede's fingers as she offered a smile to both of them.

Kaede made a face. "Ew much?" she gagged. "Please, not in front of my innocent eyes." She twitched remembering that she's witnessed the making of Jiro. "Oh," she shuddered, "the making of Jiro will forever scar me." Her onyx eyes twitched.

Sakura blushed from head to toe while the tip of Sasuke's ears reddened. "We told you not to come home early," Sasuke muttered, defending himself. His ears grew hotter. "You disobeyed on your own regard."

They were home. Sakura frowned at their distressed state. She was caked in dirt, her yellow-and-pink night-shirt stained and wet, unfit for further use; Sasuke's kneecaps were muddy, blood painted over his cheek, and a cut on his eyebrow still bled; Kaede's uniform was bloody and muddy, her kunai-pouch open and all the kunais fallen long ago as they ran through the horror that was Orochimaru's underground lair.

Sighing, Sakura accepted the terrifying state they were all in and knocked.

The door flew open in a second, and the face to greet them was Toyo. His long brown hair was disheveled, as if he had run his fingers through them more than once. His brown eyes widened and glittered once they landed on his girlfriend. Without a second thought, he pulled the messy, dirty raven-haired girl in for a kiss. Relief burned from lip to lip.

Sasuke made a disgusted face. Sakura laughed. "Breathe, hons, breathe," she ordered as the two teens broke apart. They stood forehead to forehead. Sakura sidestepped into the door. "We're home!" But before she could even say that, Akira, Ai, and Jiro were clinging to her legs and waist and anything they could reach.

Sasuke crossed his arms, black eyes glaring down omnisciently. "No hugs for Dad?"

Ai laughed and clung to her father's leg. Tears were running down her emerald eyes. "Mommy!" she chanted. "Daddy!"

Sasuke picked up his daughter, swinging her on his back. He was tired, he was dirty, and he was cranky—but he always had time and was in good humor for his daughter.

Sakura knelt down to press her boys to her dirty chest.

**:: ::**

"I was so worried." Toyo held his girlfriend tightly, whispering into her ear as his breath scratched sweetly on the shell of her ear. "I was about ready to find you myself."

Kaede pressed her lips to his. "I know."

Toyo squeezed her. "I have no idea what I'd do without you."

"I know," Kaede giggled. "Come on, let's go inside."

They sidestepped the family reunion; Kaede rushed over to hug Naruto, loving the fact that she got the chance to see him again. Tears covered her eyes as she did the same to all the others. Thank god she was home.

**::Author's Note::**

**Read and Review! We had fun writing this, hope you had fun reading it.**


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